Author: blogger
If you are in the process of creating a guided meditation or guided relaxation recording of any type, you may be wondering where you will get background music for it. In this article I will introduce you to the benefits of royalty free meditation music and Ill compare this type of music with another popular music resource original music composition.
As a meditation music composer Ive been creating background music for guided meditations and hypnosis productions for many years. I have worked with a wide variety of meditation teachers, hypnotherapists and holistic healers during that time, and Ive noticed that many of them have never even heard of the phrase “royalty free meditation music”. Many of them are under the impression that when they create a guided meditation, they will have to track down a composer and pay to have original music written just for them.
Sure enough, it can be an exciting and rewarding experience to contract the services of a composer to develop music for your recording, but it can also be quite expensive! Youll be paying an hourly rate for your composer to work for you, and good meditation music can take quite a bit of time to produce indeed! Dont be fooled by the idea that meditation music is “simple”. Meditation music is less complex than say, a full orchestral composition, but the creative and technical processes involved in composing and producing original meditation music are not simple at all.
“Royalty free” meditation music is a great alternative to original music composition, and its an option that many people overlook. Royalty free meditation music is actually the most cost effective and efficient way to get your hands on quality background music for your recording.
Now it might seem like Im shooting myself in the foot here, given that I compose background music for a living, but in all fairness I really must explain the concept of royalty free music to you. For some people, the cost of original music composition is quite prohibitive, so the royalty free path can be a real life-saver.
What is royalty free meditation music? Perhaps this is best explained by first describing what royalties are…
When an artist writes a piece of music, they own the copyright to that music. They may then license that music for use by others, but demand “royalties” a commission payment if you will, for the ongoing use of their music.
For example, yoga studios that play music during their classes usually have to pay ongoing royalties for the public performance of that music. Practitioners who create a CD for commercial release may have to pay royalties in an amount that correlates with the number of CDs they sell.
Most people who are creating a guided meditation or a hypnosis recording are thoroughly repelled by the idea of having to pay royalties on an ongoing basis, and rightly so. This is why royalty free music is such a good option for them.
In a nutshell, “royalty free” means that you only pay a one-time fee for the music you purchase. You can use that music in the background of your guided meditation and you can sell as many copies of your guided meditation as you like without ever having to pay any royalties/commissions to the artist that wrote the music.
People listen to radio for a variety of different reasons; to hear their favorite talk show, sports games, or music. The radio was invented over one hundred years ago, and people still listen to them today proving it to be one of the greatest inventions in time.
Listening to a radio can be difficult at times because there may be bad reception and it can take a while to tune to the right station you want. Listening to internet radio has many advantages over a traditional radio, and finding your favorite station is just a click away. Once you find a radio program that interests you, you just click on the link and the website broadcasts onto your computer. Finding a talk show, sports game, or your favorite music is easily accessible from the internet.
The best aspect of listening to music online is the cost. It can be free or of little cost. If you want to listen online all you need is a computer or laptop, an internet connection, speakers, and a media player. Some online stations dont require a media player so you wont have an additional cost of purchasing software. Some online stations charge a monthly fee which usually cost around $10 to $20 a month, but there are plenty of stations that are free of charge.
Another advantage of listening to radio stations online is the wide variety of programming. Unlike a traditional radio where there has to be good reception for tuning, you can listen to stations from across the globe. You can listen to stations from different countries and hear music and talk shows from other cultures. This is great for people who have relocated to another country for work, family, or military duty and want to listen to music or a show that will remind them of home. There are stations available with every type of music ranging from folk, hip-hop, rock, alternative, and jazz, just to name a few. There are thousands of radio stations to choose from online unlike traditional radio where you can only choose from AM and FM stations that are in your area of reception. Traditional radios are also limiting with music choices and most stations only play country, rap, rock, pop, and oldies. Local sports broadcasts are only offered on traditional radio, but with internet radio you can find sports broadcasts from around the world.
There are many advantages with tuning in online such as cost, accessibility, and variety.
Music therapy assists in overcoming issues that are emotional, physical, social, and cognitive. This amazing type of theraoy also manages stress, promotes overall wellness, helps in the expression of feelings, to reduces or eliminate pain, to improves memory, promotes rehabilitation from physical problems or disorders, and to betters communication.
1. Who Can Do Music Therapy?
Music therapy is done through a music therapist. A music therapist first makes an assessment of the clients overall emotional and physical well-being. The music therapist also takes a look at the clients level of social functioning, cognitive skills, and communication abilities. After making these assessments, the musical therapist designs individual music sessions for the client. Sessions can, Of course, also include group music therapy. Music therapy options include listening to music, writing songs, discussing lyrics, performing music, and learning through music.
2. The Supporting Research
In integrated approach to music therapy has been shown to help children and adults of all ages. Music therapy helps those with developmental disabilities and learning disabilities overcome their learning obstacles. It also helps individuals with Alzheimers disease and other age-related conditions regain their memory. In addition, those who have coped with drug abuse or who have suffered from brain injuries can benefit from music therapy. People dealing with chronic or acute pain, including mothers giving birth, can also use music therapy to alleviate pain.
3. Hospitals Use Music Therapy
Music therapy is also sometimes used by hospitals to improve the mood of their patients or to counteract depression. They also use music to help encourage patients to move during physical therapy, or to calm patients that need to be sedated or who need to rest. Music therapy is also used in hospitals to decrease muscle tension and to help patients relax.
4. Schools Use Music Therapy
Schools even use music therapy to help children be more successful. For special education students, music therapy is sometimes included in the students Individualized Education Plan, or IEP. Music therapy is sometimes used to help these children improve their communication skills or to strengthen their physical coordination, that helps them be more successful in general education classes.
5. Music Soothes The Savage Beast
In fact, the concept of music therapy has its roots in ancient times, but really gained attention after World War I and World War II. At these times, community musicians visited Veterans hospitals and played for veterans who were suffering from physical and emotional trauma brought on by the wars. The patients at these hospitals showed notable improvement from the music. As a result, the doctors and nurses requested that musicians be hired to come to the hospitals.
6. The Benefits Of Music Therapy
The positive effects of music therapy have been so well recognized that many insurance companies cover it as a form of medical treatment. Medicare and Medicaid cover it, as well, so long as it is prescribed by a physician and the patient shows improvement from the music therapy.
7. No Musical Inclination Required
You don’t need to be musically talented to benefit from this therapy! Some people believe that only one type of music can be beneficial for use in music therapy. This is also untrue. In fact, all types of music can be helpful in helping a client. The type of music used depends on the clients preferences, as well as on the individual circumstances and the purpose of treatment. Also, the clients overall goals from the therapy help determine the type of music to be used in the music therapy.
8. Reduce Stress
The reduction of stress in emotionally healthy people can also be a benefit! Drumming and listening to music can help facilitate relaxation. Music can also stimulate physical excercise when doing a routine.
The music industry is flourishing in recent times and hence most of the individuals choose this field to gain fame and earn money. If you observe the current musical products that are being launched in the market, you will come across the fact that most of these musical pieces have either been copied from some other source or the older songs have been remixed to make a new version. Music licensing company acts as a medium through which the producers get a chance to choose an original product from wide array of symphonies. The artists who publish their products in the music libraries organized by these companies go for licensing music to assure the film makers that these pieces belong to them and nobody else.
When this remixing technique first came into existence, the listeners liked them a lot. But changing the old slow songs into hip hop type of music by remixing them, gradually became the trend of the music industry. The audiences who liked these products earlier started taking it in a negative way and the experts began to give negative comments. This, in turn, made it essential for the producers of multiple entertainment products to search for some original opus in the libraries offered by the music licensing company. These are the creations of commoners who struggle to become a renowned star in the music industry. These unknown artists, however, go for licensing music process before they publish their original musical pieces on the libraries.
The talented music artists always try to compose something unique. If you are among these composers, then always opt for licensing music process. Having a license and possessing a copyright ensures that the musical piece belongs to you. Nobody else will have the right to claim it as his own. Even if someone does, you can litigate him in a lawsuit. But, even if your music gets copied and presented as someone else’s creation, you would never be able to litigate the person in the court if you do not have a license for that creation. Thus, as soon as you create a composition, you must, first of all obtain a copyright on it. Music licensing company is the best source to help you in doing so.
The present group of audiences is smart enough to notice the defects of the entertainment industry. This is the reason that drives the producers of entertainment products towards the music licensing company. Once the unknown artists obtain a license for their lyrics or compositions, they publish it in the music libraries online. These are the sites that are visited very often by the film makers or TV commercial makers. Whenever any unique collection is required, the producers select the composition based on what their product sequence demands. Licensing music helps the artists obtain a license for their product and the producers use it on their behalf in case they place the composition of the same musician in their product.
Licensing music not only gives an opportunity to the producers to use the creation of someone else in their entertainment product, but also helps the budding artists in paving their path towards a successful musical career. Music licensing company, however, does not only help the film producers, but also the makers of TV commercials, websites, video games, etc. where music plays an important role.
Origins of Music boxes
The year of 1796 is marked as origin of music boxes in history, as Antoine Favre from Geneva incorporated his first musical gadget. He was a watchmaker and developed many mechanical machines for nearly two centuries. For his contributions in mechanical devices, he is known as the Father of mechanical dreams. Antoine used watches, pendants, and perfume bottles to make the musical gadget. This gadget was known as a music comb. It was made from tampered and hardened steel. The comb had springy teeth of different lengths. Each of the springy teeth is plucked to produce a musical note. The length of the particular tooth is determines which musical note is produced. The comb can produce a different note from each tooth.
History reveals that the musical clocks and musical boxes were constructed for the entertainment and amusement of the wealthy and also for royalty during the 16th century. At that time, music was played by striking a pin on a revolving cylinder or disc.
Snuff boxes were originally produced by artisan watchmakers. Switzerland was the center for the bulk production of musical boxes during the 19th century. Samuel Junod and Jeremie Recordon were two entrepreneurs that started the first music box factory in Switzerland. There were also a few factories in Germany and Bohemia at that time. Some manufacturers in Europe also opened factories in United States by the end of the 19th century.
The first music boxes were of varying sizes that ranged from a tiny container which could fit in a pocket, to the size of a hat box, to the size of large pieces of furniture. Most were used as tabletop art pieces. The operative part of these instruments was cylinder that was fabricated from metal and powered by a spring. These cylindrical music boxes were used to provide live music only. They produced a melody of a bell choir or of harpists. However, there was a limitation since they had their own in built-in musical notes.
Manufacturers of cylindrical music boxes tried to remove this limitation by incorporating a method to shift the cylinder to change the melody in a box. The box incorporated several sets of pins, each representing one song. As one set of pins rang the musical notes of the comb, other sets of pins passed silently. When that particular song ends, the cylinder would pass by and other sets of pins would line up with the comb teeth, so, that one musical box could play different tunes. It is reported that some of them could play as many as 12 different tunes in that era of piano music.
In 1862, further improvements were made which permitted the cylinder to be removed to change the melody of a particular box. There were interchangeable cylinders and each cylinder had different tune. Any cylinder could be removed and replaced by a cylinder to provide a different tune.
Cylindrical music boxes were rapidly replaced by the Polyphone and other instruments made with interchangeable metal disks. By the end of the 19th century, instruments with metal disks were mass produced and people switched over to these from music boxes with cylinders. With the invention of disc players, the middle class was able to enjoy the enchanting melodies and popular music of that time in their own homes. Music boxes were great success not only in Europe, but also in America.
Symphonion, in Leipzig, Germany manufactured the first mass produced disc music boxs. The company made music boxes affordable and inexpensive, and it was easy to add more musical selections. Symphonion used a technique that punched holes onto a steel disk that plucked the comb teeth. Some of these were able to play 24 or 27-inch diameter disks. Another could play various song discs. More music was added so that bells would play with the music. The bells could be turned on or off with a switch. These improvements were added in a box named Musical Bell Symphonium.
Many manufacturers of disc music boxes also built masterpieces with mechanisms that were incorporated into hall clocks. Some even had dancing dolls built-in. The boxes were also used in birdcages, jewelry boxes, snowballs and many other art pieces.
In 1877, the phonograph was invented by Thomas Alva Edison. This instrument had major impact on the music industry of the time.
It wasnt long before there were new instruments introduced to the market like Polyphone, Kalliope, Sireon, Fortuna, Empress and Alder to name a few. All of these were produced in Switzerland and Germany. Polyphone took over the music market in America in 1892. Gustave Bachhausen from Germany, who was co-manufacturer of Polyphone disk boxes, established Regina Musical Box Company in New Jersey in 1892. Regina boxes were a huge success and achieved a milestone of 100,000 boxes sold before it disappeared from the market in 1921.
Disk music boxes were highly popular in the 20th century. These instruments were able to produce and arrange new music. Owners of these music boxes could purchase new discs to play in their machines.
In the 19th century, the player piano, phonograph, orchestrion and nickelodeon were invented and quickly became the primary instruments for home entertainment in and the contemporary coin-operated music industry. Coin-operated music boxes were placed in places like parks and train stations in Switzerland. These boxes were able to produce different musical tunes.
The Gramophone eventually replaced music boxes entirely. These record players were easy to use and affordable and permitted a choice of songs. They also offered the option of vocal or orchestral play back.
The Phonograph was invented during the First World War. The Great Depression of1929 crashed the music box industry and removed it from prominence in the market. Most of the manufacturers switched their focus and started producing products such as typewriters, watches and movie cameras that were in much-higher demand.
Today, Reuge of St.Croix, Switzerland is one of the few manufacturers that still produces music boxes of all shapes and sizes. Sanyo of Japan is the leading music box manufacturer with its own designs that compete successfully with the quality and sound of Swiss products.