Can you tell us a little bit about your musical background?

I have been involved with music since I was very young, and have always enjoyed singing. I performed my first solo in the preschool nativity play when I was around 3 years old. I started taking piano lessons when I was 7 years old, violin when I was 9, and have sung solos in the Cape Town Eisteddfod every year since I was 8 -- although I only started weekly singing lessons when I was 13.

From 2005 to 2008, I was a part of Pro Cantu Youth Choir, an internationally-acclaimed a cappella youth choir led by conductor Leon Starker. This was a great experience, allowing me to travel overseas a number of times to many different countries. Highlights include participating in the World Choir Games in Xiamen, China in 2006 and in Graz, Austria in 2008 (where we were crowned Choir of the World in the Musica Sacra Category). We also traveled to New York in January 2008 to perform at Carnegie Hall; The Armed Man, a mass for peace by Karl Jenkins.

Singing is my passion; one of my greatest joys is to stand up in front of an audience and communicate with people through the words that I’m singing and the emotion that can be portrayed through the music.

Why did you choose this particular song?

I have a wide taste in music, but I particularly enjoy singing classical songs, early baroque pieces and Celtic folksongs. I have always loved singing a cappella – I think there is something special about presenting the voice in its simplicity; vulnerable and pure. Folk songs were passed down from generation to generation, sung in the kitchen or at the fire, accompanied by whichever instrument was available and often simply unaccompanied. I love the haunting melody of this song and the sad story it tells.

Christy-Lyn was also kind enough to share with us her comments about being able to download sheet music from Musicnotes.com. “I have been downloading sheet music from Musicnotes.com for quite a long time now, and I always appreciate being able to find exactly what I’m looking for, and receiving it instantly – when I’m inspired to sing a particular song, I get quite involved and impatient, and it’s great to know that I can rely on Musicnotes for quality music without delay or complication.”

Please take a moment to watch May’s winning video. Musicnotes.com congratulations Christy-Lyn on her performance, and wishes her the best of luck with her music-filled future. Good luck, Christy-Lyn!

Narelle and Elaine’s musical journey began at a housewarming party where Narelle sang the song “Welcome to my World.” When speaking with Elaine after her performance, Narelle discovered that not only was Elaine a musician as well, but an active volunteer who dedicated her piano and accordion skills to perform music at local retirement homes and care facilities for the elderly.

Excited by the idea, Narelle offered to sing and perform with Elaine, who responded very warmly to the idea. Not long afterward, the duet began rehearsing and structured four or five musical programs over the course of the following year that were comprised of 30 or 40 songs per program. In Elaine’s experiences, she had learned that senior citizens are particularly partial to songs from the World War eras and had been playing most of the songs by ear prior to her work with Narelle. Unfamiliar with music from the era, Narelle felt she had a huge amount of learning to do, especially since there wasn’t a lot of sheet music on hand for those songs.

When Elaine didn’t have the necessary sheet music for a particular song, Narelle found herself struggling to learn the songs by ear. To find the sheet music, Narelle turned to Musicnotes.com where she usually found what she needed. Many of the songs on Musicnotes.com are arranged with a vocal line and corresponding accompaniment, so both musicians ended up benefiting from Narelle’s sheet music downloads. Narelle also found that she was surprised that a number of highly-popular short songs like “Daisy Bell” and “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” turned out to be the choruses of ballads with two or three verses.

While the journey for Narelle and Elaine hasn’t been easy, it’s been a rewarding one that has led them to their award-winning YouPerform contest entry of “(I’ll Be With You) In Apple Blossom Time.”

“Thank you, Musicnotes, for the monthly free sheet music and the opportunity to hone our craft through the YouPerform contest, and thank you to previous winners who advised to ‘make a piece your own’ and ‘find something to make it special’,” wrote Narelle and Elaine. Both performers also added their advice for contest entrants:

Narelle mentioned to us that other musicians should “be true to the sort of music you want to do and don’t let yourself be swayed by what others say is popular. Be courageous — stick with what you do best.”

Elaine’s advice is this: “If you’re given an opportunity, HAVE A GO, even if you think it’s beyond you. Very often you’ll find that with practice it wasn’t as hard as you thought it would be.” — April 2009 YouPerform Contest Winners

Musicnotes.com would like to extend its best wishes to Narelle and Elaine on their musical future. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about your April YouPerform contest winners, and that you’re inspired to sing or play an eligible song for this month’s YouPerform contest. Until next time, we invite you to watch the winning performance below.

All three of our winners played variations of the song Bunessan which is also referred to as Morning Has Broken. We had the chance to catch up with our winners, and we’d like to shine the spotlight on them as they talk about their experiences in music and their contest entry.

First Place Winner

Your first place winner in the contest was a talented musician named Rachel, who played the song as a “duet” with her performance of both the Irish whistle and the piano. Rachel taught herself how to play the piano and read music when she was six. Although she’s had formal piano training, Rachel taught herself how to play the Irish whistle about a year and a half ago. She’s currently learning how to play violin.

Excited to win, Rachel also talked a little bit about why she chose to play the arrangement the way she did. When we asked her why she chose the Irish whistle and the piano for her performance, she responded with:

“I decided to arrange Bunessan for Irish whistle and piano because I really like both instruments. I couldn’t decide between the two, so I did both. I also really like how the Irish whistle sounds with the piano. I’ve done the same thing with two other songs that my brother composed, except I recorded two Irish whistle tracks instead of one. We have a website with our music on it here: http://lambsundries.com/music.html”

In Second Place

Playing for ten years, Renee took second place in our YouPerform contest. Many of you had enjoyed Renee’s piano performance of Bunessan, and from what we learned Renee has a bright future ahead of her. Renee loves music so much she’d like to go into the performing arts some day. When we asked her what she enjoyed the most about playing piano, she said: “I love to just start playing and forget about everything else for a while. I love just “being in the music” and feeling the beautiful harmonies.”

Renee also had some great advice for future Musicnotes.com YouPerform contestants:

I would just say to make it your own. It doesn’t have to be the exact rhythm or even the absolute perfect notes. Just play it now you feel it.

Just look at the first place winner. She completely made it her own and it was beautiful. Most of all have fun doing it! — RENEE, Second Place Winner

And in Third Place…

We take a trip around the world to the Philippines to bring you your third place winner. Wilma has been playing piano since she was eight years old, but eventually life got in the way of her music performance. Picking it up again, Wilma estimates she’s been playing for about twenty years. When we asked her how music is a part of her life, she mentioned that she’s a big movie buff and enjoys playing songs from movies. As Wilma put it, “Music is what makes life beautiful.”

We also asked her if she had any advice for people learning how to play piano. Wilma revealed that:

My advice is that you need to put a lot of effort in practicing, because that’s the way all piano players improve our playing skills. Also, it pays to learn how to read notes and not just play by ear. Both learning how to read sheet music and mastering how to play by ear are two great skills to learn in order to become an advanced keyboard player. --WILMA, Third Place Winner

Wilma also had some great advice to share regarding our contest. She said, “Don’t forget to put a personal touch into your playing to set your video apart from other entries who may be playing the same song.”

Watch the Winning Entries!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this first-hand look into our music contestants as they describe their musical background and their thoughts on our contest. We encourage you to get inspired by their wining entries and can’t wait to watch your video entry for next month’s contest. For your enjoyment, watch the winning videos below.

In this week’s wrap-up, we talk about how talent shows are inspiring musicians everywhere to sing or play their instrument and provide you with some sheet music suggestions. We also reveal the winner of our own “talent” show, the Musicnotes.com YouPerform Contest for March 2009.

Britain’s Got Talent! Do you?

As we mentioned earlier this week in our press release entitled Susan Boyle Phenomenon Resonates in Sheet Music, “Britain’s Got Talent” singing sensation Susan Boyle has had a definite impact on sheet music. You’ve been so inspired by Susan Boyle’s performance of I Dreamed a Dream, that this single song from Les Miserables sheet music is one of your top downloads on Musicnotes.com.

That’s not the only performer that you’ve enjoyed, though. Competing for a chance to perform in front of the Queen, this past week Shaheen Jafargholi started singing the song Valerie by Amy Winehouse and Simon Cowell stopped him after the first few bars. Switching to the song Who’s Lovin’ You by the Jackson Five, this twelve-year old received a standing ovation. (Watch the video of Shaheen singing.) Another sensation was a music teacher playing an alto saxophone version of the song Somewhere from West Side Story named Julian Smith.

Looks like this talent show is inspiring more than just singers to offer their music to the world. How about you? What do you play?

Talent Show American Idol Continues to Impress You

Have you been following American Idol? This week was a big heart-breaker for Anoop Desai and Lil Rounds as they were eliminated from the show. Many of the songs sung by Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, Kris Allen and all your favorite singers have inspired you to play the songs they’ve performed. Featured songs from our selection of American Idol sheet music for Season Eight include:

• Hot Stuff by Donna Summer
• Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard
• September by Earth, Wind and Fire
• She Works Hard for the Money by Donna Summer
• Stayin’ Alive by Bee Gees
• Mad World by Gary Jules
• Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry
• I Can’t Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt
• Stand By Me by Ben E. King
• All She Wants to Do Is Dance by The Eagles
• True Colors by Cyndi Lauper
• What’s Love Got to Do With It by Tina Turner
• Part-Time Lover by Stevie Wonder

Whether you buy sheet music from us or not, we hope you pick up your favorite instrument or microphone and get inspired to play!

March 2009 YouPerform Contest Winners!

It seems like only yesterday we asked you to vote on the twelve entries to March’s Musicnotes.com YouPerform Contest. We have contacted the first place, second place and third place winners today, and have invited them to share with us a few words about their musical background and performance. We’ll offer you an update next week when we’re able to sit down with our lucky contestants.

We’d like to announce that your favorite performance is of the girl who played the piano and the hornpipe. Choosing the song “Bunessan,” here is the video of the March 2009 YouPerform Contest Winner for Musicnotes.com. Who placed second and third? Find out early next week when we offer you an inside look at our own musical contestants who are definitely talented!

The contest deadline for April is rapidly approaching and we’re really excited to see who’s going to enter. We hope you’re considering adding your contest entry, because if we receive a minimum of ten entries — we’ll give more away! Just yesterday we posted that:

Effective for March’s contest and any month going forward, we will award first, second and third place prizes provided we have a minimum of ten entries. For first place the YouPerform contest winner will receive a gift certificate in the amount of $100, second place will receive a $50 certificate, and third place will receive a certificate for $25.

What are you waiting for? We hope you’re so inspired, you’re ready to show the world what musical talent you’re hiding!

We invite you to check out our Easter sheet music selection, and are happy to announce that we have more new songs on the way!

If you can’t find the song you’re looking for on that page, feel free to search for it on Musicnotes.com. We add hundreds of new songs each week, so don’t be afraid to check back with us for all your sheet music needs!

Guitar Guru Coupon in Honor of our New Store!

In honor of our brand new Guitar Guru Sessions store page, we’re offering all you guitar lovers out there an exclusive two-week coupon. We’ve already given away free gift certificates through our @guitar_guru Twitter account. We’re so excited by all the great feedback we’ve received that we want to share the love with you! Here are the Guitar Guru coupon details:

Use coupon code GGUSAVE5 to save $5 on your next Guitar Guru purchase of $20 or more. Coupon expires Saturday, April 11th at midnight. One coupon per person.

Don’t forget, every month we give away a free Guitar Guru session on our free sheet music page! If you’re looking for some Guitar Guru session ideas, visit your list of favorites from previous years. We recommend browsing through your Top Guitar Guru Sessions from 2008 or even your Top Guitar Guru Sessions from 2007.

Hope you take advantage of this great coupon, and stay tuned for more updates about Guitar Guru!

Here’s our February YouPerform Contest Winner!

The voting ended and you declared Jon the winner of our Musicnotes.com YouPerform contest. We asked Jon a few questions that we’d like to share with you now. After you read his answers, be sure to watch his award-winning video! Jon performed Sonata in C Minor “Pathétique” II. Adagio Cantabile by Beethoven.

Also, we were able to get a hold of our January YouPerform contestant, and because he was the only entrant in our contest, he won! Here’s a link to our January Musicnotes.com YouPerform contest on YouTube!.

MUSICNOTES: How long have you been playing piano?

JON, Contest Winner: Eight years

MUSICNOTES:: Of all the Musicnotes Editions we offer, why did you pick this song?

JON, Contest Winner: I picked this song because of its simplistic sound but still
beautiful effect.

MUSICNOTES: If you had any advice for future contestants, what would it be?

JON, Contest Winner: Play something that you love and are motivated to master, something that is a joy for you to play.

MUSICNOTES: What are your plans for your musical future?

JON, Contest Winner: Music will continue to be a hobby and release in my future, but not
a career.

MUSICNOTES: Is Beethoven your favorite classical composer?

JON, Contest Winner: Alongside Chopin and Debussy, Beethoven ranks among my favorite
classical composers.

Don’t forget, next week we’ll open up new voting for the March Musicnotes.com YouPerform Contest, and based on the entries we received we will definitely need your help! As always, if you have any questions about the contest feel free to comment on the blog or shoot us an email to musiclovers AT musicnotes DOT com.

“

Let’s listen to Daniel as he talks about his love for the organ and a bit about his musical background.

I arranged the music for the organ and performed it on my Allen Home Organ. I love Theatre Organ and wanted to give the medley a Theatre ending so the last part is my own special arrangement. The organ is more versatile than a piano and the the different sounds and pedals that I chose made the medley sound like it was played with a full orchestra. Organs are not just for “Churches” and for playing classical pieces. Thank you for offering organ music on your website -- it would be awesome to a have a greater, more contemporary, selection in the future. I love playing all types of music on the organ -- Beatles songs are my favorite!

I have been taking organ lessons for 5 years and piano lessons for 3 years. I play both instruments every day for at least 1/2 hour. Most days I do not formally “practice” but just play for the enjoyment of it. I also play trumpet in the school Concert Band and play the keyboard in the school Jazz Band. I used the whole month of December to master the song -- spending about 10 minutes each day on it.
--Daniel, December Musicnotes.com YouPerform Contest Winner

Daniel offered this tip to you, our fellow music lovers, if you’re going to try to learn this challenging piece: “I found it helpful to learn the song slowly, section by section, just a few lines at a time. I did not try to learn the piece all at once. This way I perfected each part of the song before I continued on.”

Join us in giving Daniel a huge round of applause, and feel free to watch this contest-winning performance. Don’t forget — we have new rules for the Musicnotes.com YouPerform Contest so be sure to submit your performance for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to our store.

Congratulations, Daniel! GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR MUSIC!

We asked our contest winner this question about our Christmas Medley – “What tips can you share with your fellow music lovers about learning this medley?”

I believe that in playing a “medley” such as this, it is extremely important to preserve the character of each song. This includes getting used to the tempo and the progression of the song. More often than not, players will tend to rush through the “easy parts” or play everything too quickly . In this particular piece, with the limited time between my decision to submit an entry and the deadline, listening repeatedly to the demo greatly helped with building familiarity, practicing accuracy and knowing whether I need to speed up or slow down with my playing. As for playing the piano in general, obviously, the most important aspect is being patient to practice. It helps to “spot practice” the section you’re struggling with so you don’t overworked the rest of the piece.–QUOTE: Weena, November YouPerform Contest Winner

Weena learned the Christmas Medley in five to six hours, and ended up winning the contest with this video performance of I Saw Three Ship, Away in the Manger and Sussex Carol.

What about you? How long does it take you to practice and learn a song? Are you learning December’s free sheet music download?

Today we are proud to announce the winner of the $100 Musicnotes Gift Card is Weena. Watch for an upcoming post about this award-winning piano player.

As stated, this decision was made by all of you who have come to the site, viewed the entries, and voted on which one you preferred. Through a combination of votes here on the official Musicnotes blog indicating the quality of Weena’s performance, as well as on YouTube, Weena was chosen the winner.

If you didn’t win last month, or didn’t even enter, remember there’s a whole new YouPerform contest underway for December. Just download your copy of sheet music for the Nutcracker medley “Nutcracker March / Dance of the Reed Flutes / Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” (also available as a Guitar Guru / Guitar TAB download) and upload your performance (instructions and rules are available here).

At the end of the month the entries will open for voting and the highest rated performance will be selected as the winner and announced in the middle of January. Based on our experiences running contests, we are not solely basing our decision on how many votes a performer has, but what the performance quality is to ensure the contest is fair.

Here’s a hint: There are currently no entries for December’s contest, so you have a great chance of winning. Bang out music from The Nutcracker on the piano, pluck through it with your guitar or even hum this medley arranged by Musicnotes. It doesn’t matter how you play it -- you are welcome to use our arrangement as a starting point only, if you like -- and you never know what kind of creative approach will get a vote.

So once again, congratulations Weena, your gift card is on its way.

The rest of you, download the sheet music, get out your camera or webcam (or, if you’re feeling especially creative, record the audio and create your own animated version!), and show us your stuff.

We appreciate and sincerely thank all of November’s performers. For your enjoyment, here is November’s winning performance:

We learned that he has been playing piano for approximately eleven years, and that he started taking his music seriously as a freshman in high school. Learning “In the Hall of the Mountain King” between six to eight hours, we learned this piano player is studying music, too.

When we asked Daniel, “Do you have any tips to share with your fellow musicians for learning this song?” He responsed by saying:

To increase fingering speed in general, I think it’s a good idea for people to play several Hanon exercises every single day. I always warm-up using scales and Hanon exercises and after I finish those “finger-twisters,” I feel as though it’s much easier and natural to play “real” pieces. One of the best ways to become accurate at playing is to practice the passages that you are struggling with stacatto. Obviously, it can also be a huge temptation for pianists to play to quickly when they hardly know the piece, so it’s important for people to play slowly until the piece has “sunk” into their fingers. Since I didn’t have much time (due to when I started learning the piece in comparison to the deadline) to practice accuracy, one of the biggest things that helped me was taking the sheet music and writing out the chord names above the written notes. Being able to see the chord progression and where “In the Hall of the Mountain King” goes musically was really helpful in learning it quickly, and for studying a piece in the long-term, knowing the chord progression ultimately improves your memory and you are less likely to have a memory slip while performing! — Musicnotes.com Contest Winner, Daniel

We hope you are practicing your YouPerform contest entry for November, and appreciate everyone’s participation. From comments to voting, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback and are taking your thoughts into consideration.

Give the Gift of Song with a Musicnotes.com Gift Card

We know how hard it is to not only find the right song, but to figure out what to get the musician in your life. We recently re-designed all of our Musicnotes.com gift cards to have more of a contemporary look and feel. Each gift card is customizable and we offer free shipping on our gift cards to continental U.S. addresses. If you’re looking for something more immediately, we have gift certificates available for email.

You can get a gift card or certificate in an denomination to fit your gift-giving needs. For as little as $5, you can give the gift of song to someone you know. This week’s popular song has been the Ingrid Michaelson Winter Song duet with Sara Bareilles. Be sure to read our story about this song for more information!

Songwriter Interviews with William Joseph and Philip Hansen

This week we were proud to premiere our first edition of a column called the “Songwriter Spotlight.” Our interview with William Joseph is a fascinating read. William has composed pieces both for piano soloists and with a full orchestra. When we asked him, “Can you talk about how the song-writing process is different for piano versus a full orchestra?” he responded, in part with:

Writing for an entire orchestra is absolutely thrilling for me… It is definitely different then writing piano solo pieces… In writing music you have a few different elements to keep in mind… Melody, Harmony, and the rest of the accompaniment… When you are dealing with the piano only, then there are only so many ways to play the melody, harmony, and accompaniment… After all… We have 2 hands and 10 fingers to work with… Writing for an entire orchestra opens a whole new world… –Interview with William Joseph for Musicnotes.com

We hope you will read the entire interview and show your support for this fantastic composer. We are also pleased to announce that we have approval to post our next songwriter interview with Philip Hansen, the composer for the popular Christmas song Santa Baby.

Love the Musicnotes Blog? Get an Email Update

Everyone here has been really wonderful, providing feedback, comments and questions to help us in our quest for a music lover’s community. We understand your time is important to you, and would like to mention that you can subscribe to blog updates right in your “in box.” Here’s a little more about this feature:

To subscribe to our blog’s content via your email client, simply fill in your email address into the box below. You will receive one email per day of the blog’s latest content, relevant to when we update the blog.

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Thanks for staying with us this week. We will not have an edition of The Whole Note next Friday. but watch for a special update on Monday, December 1st. We will be providing you with a special offer, announcing December’s free sheet music download of the month and closing another contest.

Until next time, remember that practice makes perfect!

Today we are proud to announce the winner of the $100 Musicnotes Gift Card is Daniel (Musicnotes user, mallenor2007. Watch for an upcoming post about this award-winning piano player.

As stated, this decision was made by all of you who have come to the site, viewed the entries, and voted on which one you preferred.  Through a combination of votes here on the official Musicnotes blog indicating the quality of Daniel’s performance, as well as on YouTube, Daniel was chosen the winner.

If you didn’t win last month, or didn’t even enter, remember there’s a whole new YouPerform contest underway for November.  Just download your copy of sheet music for the medley “I Saw Three Ships / Away In a Manger / Sussex Carol” (also available as a Guitar Guru / Guitar TAB download) and upload your performance (instructions and rules are available here).

At the end of the month the entries will open for voting and the highest rated performance will be selected as the winner and announced in the middle of December. Based on our experiences running contests, we are not solely basing our decision on how many votes a performer has, but what the performance quality is to ensure the contest is fair.

Here’s a hint: There are currently no entries for this month’s contest, so you have a great chance of winning.  Sing it, bang it out on the piano, pluck through it with your guitar or even hum it.  It doesn’t matter how you play it, and you never know what kind of creative approach will get a vote.

So once again, congratulations Daniel, your gift card is on its way.

The rest of you, download the sheet music, get out your camera or webcam, and show us your stuff.

… and in case you missed it, here’s October’s winning performance: