Home Entertainment At Its Best--Your Private Home TheaterWritten by Larry Denton
Continued from page 1
Any home theater starts with a fantastic television screen. Screen size is no longer only choice you have to make. You now have option of standard tube televisions, flat-screen plasma displays, rear-projection televisions, in addition to high-end front projector systems and pull-down wall screens. To add to confusion, each of these types of screens is available in standard quality or new high-definition format. The second, and some would say most important piece of equipment, is sound system. If you are truly looking to recreate movie sound in your home, surround sound is your best bet. It is a recording technique that, when paired with a speaker system, puts viewer in center of action with sounds that move front to back, and side to side. It is not about louder sound, rather, it is about sound that envelops listener and provides directionality to off-screen sound effects. A media player is another component to your system, and most people today choose DVD as their preferred format. When connected to a receiver and speakers, or when connected to a home theater system, most DVD players can play audio CDs. If you plan to use your DVD player to play CDs on a regular basis, you may want to consider a multidisc player over a single disc model. Other necessities and accessories range from speaker choices, lighting controls, auto-retracting curtain (to conceal screen), and certainly comfortable seating. Seating choices, like everything else, vary widely. Your biggest decision in this area is whether you want your home theater to look like a "home" or a "theater." If you want miniature theater look, you can get stadium type seating that closely resembles your local theater. For a more "homey" look, you may wish to go with more traditional armchairs.

Larry Denton is retired history teacher having taught 33 years at Hobson High in Hobson, Montana. He is currently Vice President of Elfin Enterprises, Inc., an Internet business dedicated to providing valuable information on a variety of important topics. For a theater full of additional information to help you create that "perfect" home theater, visit http://www.HomeTheaterHere.com
| | How To Play The ViolinWritten by Helen Baxter
Continued from page 1
Pizzicato To play pizzicato (often abbreviated to pizz.) right thumb should be placed under fingerboard and index finger used to pull string quickly upwards and across. For faster passages, bow can be held while playing pizzicato, still using index finger but without support of thumb. In more complex and advanced pieces, a small cross above stave indicates fingers of left hand plucking strings. Fingering and positions As there are no physical aids such as frets for violinists as there are for guitarists, accurate tuning comes with immense practice. On a full size violin, tones are roughly two centimeters apart, but this is difficult to judge when playing since you are seeing from a different perspective. To aid tuning, it is very helpful to have a piano or other keyboard instrument when practicing. The fingers of left hand are conventionally named first (index finger) to fourth (little finger). When playing notes other than open strings (G, A, D and E), these fingers must press down hard, so that string is shortened convincingly for a higher pitch. The standard intervals taught to beginners is tone, tone, semitone, tone (ie. G-A-B-C-D, D-E-F#-G-A, A-B-C#-D-E, and E-F#-G#-A-B). Of course notes in between can be played by rearranging hand position. This is known as first position, where first finger plays up to a tone above open string. The next position usually taught is third position, where first finger plays note a perfect fourth above open string (so, for example, third position on A string would start on D). All positions from first up to anywhere around tenth can be thus played, and two octaves on one string are considered fairly standard.

Looking for information about the violin? Go to: http://www.mrviolin.com 'Mr Violin' is published by Helen Baxter - The Complete A to Z Of Violin Resources! Check out more violin articles at: http://www.mrviolin.com/archive
|