Advantages: Friendly with a strong course
Disadvantages: Not many opportunities for solo performance

...'s certainly a sociable and friendly department. The lecturers, as might be expected, are an eccentric bunch, but among them are some wonderful characters and really inspiring people, and all of them are friendly and approachable and it's easy to find some help if you need it. The lectures as with anywhere do tend to vary between who's giving them, but they're mostly interesting and well prepared. And because they're often fairly small and everyone tends to know nearly everyone else, there's usually also quite a bit of room for amusingly misplaced remarks and they can sometimes turn out to be good fun. The first year course is set but varied; modules include Historical Topics One, which covers Classical to the 20th C, Tonal Music (harmony, counterpoint, and anaylsis - the sort of subject which is impossible to understand so you just have... Read review

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Advantages: Panpipes, hip-hop, throat singing and the value of enjoying music
Disadvantages: Academics, choirmasters and performance art

...and tarkas, and sang song after song with two alcoholics, who were amazed that we could actually sing in tune. It was a week filled with great friends and music and sunshine and beaches and lots of laughter, and I've never had more fun on a music tour. September Although the masters was stressful and boring and disappointing in so many ways and not worth all the money that I (my parents) spent on it, it really did teach me some valuable things, and these things will stay with me for the rest of my life. It left me with more than I first thought (an inability to laugh at 'ethnic' jokes, a desire to use semi-colons in every sentence and irritable bowel syndrome). To begin with, it opened up a whole world - literally - of exciting and interesting and beautiful music to me. It taught me the importance of an open mind; the importance... Read review

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Advantages: Six or so good tunes
Disadvantages: Several mediocre songs

...After the success of Coming Up in 1999 Suede unwisely allowed a three year gap before their next studio album. The album in question - the oddly entitled Head Music - was easily the weakest and most uneven record of their career and was the beginning of the end for the band. The attempt to create a new sound and experiment (more keyboards and strings/less guitars) resulted in several ho-hum unloveable songs. It's a shame because half the record is perfectly fine and if the overall quality control had been lifted just a little Head Music could have been a worthy addition to the Suede catalogue rather than a mildly interesting misfire. The first thing that strikes you about the album is the bland cover - the first Suede album to suffer from this. It looks like two people morphed into each other wearing motorcycle helmets. I'm sure... Read review

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Advantages: A better way to rip your music and organise your digital jukebox than the built in X Box media player
Disadvantages: Microphone has slight delay, needs X Box live connected and credit card to purchase additional karaoke tunes

...I purchased this software as I was interested in the karaoke aspect, although I was also interested in having a better way to organise the music that I have on my X Box. So I switched it on, waitied for it to load and away I went. The menus were bold and simple with a big hint bubble telling you how to browse through the songs. There a alot of options to choose from aswell, so I'll explain the pros and cons of each one in turn: You can use the X Box DVD controller to control the menus and change tracks which I think is a huge advantage as you can change tracks from the other side of the room, like a Hi Fi. It of course works better if you have it all connected to external speakers! 1) MUSIC PLAYER All the music you have on your X Box can be accessed here. There are 3 choices meaning you can either play your music, create... Read review

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Advantages: Great articles, great music, great price
Disadvantages: None

...long history of association with quality broadcasting on a global scale, has within its writing and critical nets the greatest from all over the world. Included among the reviews are the latest and greatest books on musical subjects, as well as a sampling and offering of web sites of interest. The section of reviews is always indexed, which is a nice and handy feature. The section entitled The Guide offers picks of the month including concerts and opera, radio and television highlights, and always a particular feature. Unfortunately for American readers, this is the listing for the UK -- something to use when planning a trip, but less than useful for regular planning. Some of the recent issues have included personality profiles on violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, mezzo Katarina Karnéus, and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard. A great deal... Read review

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Advantages: Great way to see Salzburg sites
Disadvantages: None

...No visit to Salzburg would be complete without a tour on the Original Sound of Music Tour especially if you are a fan of the 42 year old movie. MOVIE VERSES REALITY... It is a good way to see the main city attractions and to get out into the mountains while learning how the movie was made and the differences from the original von Trapp families life experience and to see what director Robert Wise and composers Rogers and Hammerstein did to their story. For me the Original Sound of Music Tour was truly a memorable experience but one tinged with sadness as the extremely able and friendly tour hostess exposed the movie as a bit of a fake, for me, who did not know that the real von Trapp family's life was little as it is presented in the movie. She started off by telling us we could sing whatever songs we liked from the movie, all... Read review

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Advantages: It's the Specials!
Disadvantages: One or two tracks not so good.

...a sneak peak on iTunes......ah....now I know why I don't remember it, it's rubbish. 3/10. 3. Blank Expression This I do remember. Great lyrics, strange use of guitar almost 70's rock, quite a good tune though, I'll give it a 7/10. 4. Stupid Marriage Not their best, in fact it does not 'fit'. What I mean by that is, if the lyrics were put to say a Jam tune it would seem okay, but the reggae beat does not work with these working class brummy lyrics, sorry, weak link. 2/10. 5. Too Much Too Young Class, pure class, one of the best songs they ever made. Every one gets a go, sublime lyrics, musically very competent and in terms of sentiment, unlike the last track, it does fit. The album version is the best version by a long shot, I love the way it slows in the middle giving it real gravitas. 9/10. 6. Little Bitch Quite an interesting... Read review

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Advantages: Great, Enjoyable Film
Disadvantages: Dance Routine is very hard to learn

...heard about this film has been the most positive that it can be. The DVD contains some extras and special features; these include deleted scenes, learn the songs and dance moves. When viewing the extras there are several menus that you have to navigate through to get the different functions. The menus are called “Music and More”, “Backstage Disney” and “Scene Selection”. I have to say that I was not the best impressed with the extras as they were not really madder that well. You are able to learn the dance moves on the DVD but this becomes very hard as some of the dances are so complex and they don’t really break it down or explain anything they just seem to go ahead and do it as normal. I found that it was very hard to learn the dance moves and then thought I better give it a miss after making a fool of myself. The same goes... Read review

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Advantages: The writing, the setting, the music
Disadvantages: The characters are not sow ell defined or likable

...portraits. Seth provides an incredible and true to live insight into the thoughts of a performer, ”I play the line of the song, I play the leaps and plunges of the right hand of the piano, I am the trout, the angler, the brook , the observer.” He imparts an understanding of each of instruments involved. He conveys how deafness affects the playing of an instrument and ways that lessen the impact. Through a search for a viola that can reach lower registers and a replacement violin, some knowledge of the instruments is presented. As the action moves between London, Vienna, Venice and Manchester, a feel for each of the locations is given particularly the musical venues. This was particularly special to me having spent time in both Vienna and Venice visiting many of the sites quoted. I also live quite close to Manchester and have attended many... Read review

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Advantages: Quite unlike anything you have heard
Disadvantages: Will drive you mad wondering who he sounds like

...It is rare indeed these days to find an artist who doesn't fit into one of the currently trendy boxes, Duke Special is one of these. Should we put him in the singer songwriter box or the piano harmonies box? Lets label him "other" for now. Duke Special AKA Peter Wilson hails from Belfast and cites some varied influences on his music including Rufus Wainwright, Andy Kaufman, Vaudeville and Elliott Smith to name a few. Songs from the deep forest is Special's second album after May 2005 "Adventures in Gramophone - which was itself an amalgamation of two earlier EPs. The two albums share a number of tracks in common, namely "freewheel", "wake up scarlett" and "last night I nearly died" The first Duke song I heard was "freewheel" and I was captivated it it had been a long time since I had heard something different and it piqued my... Read review

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