How Music Keeps People Active and Outside

surivial-outdoors
surivial-outdoors

Music can be a great tool for keeping people active and outside, and it is especially helpful in having people come together and socialize. Think about it – when you go outside and encounter people running, most of them have ear buds or headphones on, listening to their iPods or music on their cell phones. When you go to the gym, you might hear music playing in the background, or notice people there have brought their own music devices. Participants in sporting events even do the same – no matter where we look, people are using music as workout fuel, and it’s a wonderful thing.

Music While Exercising

For those people who love to work out, whether it is running, hitting the gym, or even playing basketball with friends, music can be a vital component to their workout. Many people remember to bring their music to their works, but they forget to bring water. Don’t forget to drink up. Other people who like to use music in their workouts have their own specific play lists that will suit their mood and the type of workout that they are going for. For a slow jog, they might choose slower and more mellow music, while a fast-paced run or workout at the gym might call for music that is faster paced and more upbeat.

Many people who play team sports with their friends or have recreational gatherings to play basketball or a game of football might choose to bring a portable stereo with them, or portable speakers for their iPod or cell phone. This allows everyone to listen to music together while playing.

Outdoor Events

A lot of concerts, shows, and performances are held outdoors, especially during the summer months, but how to prepare for something like this can be a difficult question to answer. Perhaps your town has specific festivals or celebrations for the holidays during the summer months, or maybe you have to travel to see one of these performances, but they all have a common goal of getting neighbors outside together. Music is popular during neighborhood picnics, and many of them have special music and concerts to gather more attendance and bring people outside.

Exercise and Children

Many neighborhoods are working together to bring music activities and programs to children, as well. This helps them to create and improve social skills and friendships, while fighting childhood obesity and giving children a love for music. It will motivate them to exercise and learn to link exercise with positive feelings, instead of just knowing it is something they have to do, thus making it less enjoyable and something that they might be more likely to give up on in the future.

A lot of schools with physical education programs also bring music into the classroom as a way of promoting exercise as a happy and healthy habit. Other childhood games, such as musical chairs, are played with music, which can encourage the children to enjoy getting out and active with their friends. If your kids are out playing all day, make sure they bring some disaster snacks in case something bad happens.

No matter how you look at it, music is great for getting people, both young and old, out and active. Whether you plan on spending time together at an outdoor concert or are taking a relaxing hike and want to listen to some mellow tunes that will fit the mood, music and exercise go hand in hand to promoting great health and good lifelong habits.

Popular Musicians Who Like Guns

gun-safesWhen music and guns are mentioned together, one name usually rings out in the minds of just about every gun owner, above all other names. That name is Ted Nugent. By far and away, the most outspoken musician on issues of gun rights, hunting, concealed carry and a plethora of other topics, Ted pulls absolutely no stops when he has something to say.

Nugent hails from Redford, Michigan originally, garnering him the name of “the Motor City Madman” early in his musical career. He now lives in Texas, where gun laws are much more lax. He has had an extensive solo career as well as playing with the bands Amboy Dukes as well as the Damn Yankees. A Conservative supporter of the Republican Party, Nugent is a board member of the National Rifle Association and a strong advocate for hunting and gun rights especially for people who believe in liberty gun security. He has had many run-in’s with animal activist groups and is known for his usually outspoken stance on many political topics.

It may be a little harder to believe, but Madonna is also a gun owner. While not nearly as outspoken as Ted Nugent, she does share his home state, as she was born in Bay City, Michigan, not long after him. She stands by the belief that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. She was also quoted as saying that the softening of gun imagery in movies because of the surge in mass shootings would not change the situation. She blamed it on fear, ignorance, people who didn’t really raise their children and not paying attention to what’s going on.

Miranda Lambert may not be a gun right’s activist either, but as the daughter of a police officer, she does certainly support the right to have a gun. She has said, “I don’t have a stance on anything except what I was taught from day one: gun safety.” She has, at times, received death threats and believes that, instead of depending on bodyguards, she needs to be her own security, especially since at the time, she lived alone. On the other hand, she has also received pistols as gifts from fans and is known to really enjoy that. Born in Texas, she gleaned a lot from her police officer father, Rick, who also played in a country rock group called Contraband. Rick later co-partnered a private investigation firm with Miranda’s mother, Beverly.

One final musician we’ll look at today is Eric Clapton, who owns a vintage gun collection in a rifle security safe. Clapton, once hailed as “God” in his earliest years with Cream, has been an extremely well known musician for over fifty years. Eric considers himself an average shot and says that he will never be a great shot, because shooting is not his favorite interest. While Eric has vowed to eat whatever he kills, he has said that shooting is more of a social hobby than fishing, and often shoots with groups of people all over the country. He says that it has taught him a great deal about how to get on with fellow human beings.

Famous Musicians Build Huge Homes on Lakeshore Real Estate

lake-michigan-real-estateThere are few people who live a more extravagant lifestyle that famous musicians and rock stars. Driving million dollar cars, living in multimillion dollar homes, and traveling all over the world without a care or concern about price whatsoever, these rock stars live in a world that the ordinary American family can only dream of.

Despite their vast fortunes, it appears that even some of the richest celebrities and musicians are getting tired of overpaying for inflated real estate prices on the California coast and instead are relocating to Michigan’s lakeshore.

Lakefront Real Estate in Michigan

Fore those who don’t know, Michigan has one of the largest coastlines of any state in the union. In fact, it has so many coastlines that it is commonly called “America’s Third Coast.”

But, Michigan’s coast is sort of a hidden treasure to everyone except those living around it because not many people think of Michigan as a state with beautiful white sand beaches. Instead of associating Michigan with beautiful beaches, people typically think of industry, specifically the auto industry in Detroit and the many problems associated with it over the last 20-30 years.

Very few people know what is on Michigan’s west coast and the beauties it has to offer.

Recently, however, some celebrities have been made aware of this hidden treasure and its alluring price that they are building extravagant luxury homes on Lake Michigan and Michigan’s other lakes.

Why the sudden change from the California coast you might ask? Well, it’s simple supply and demand. In Los Angeles, the houses prices have absolutely skyrocketed. Even a modest family home can cost close to one million dollars. Now, imagine a large house with a beautiful ocean view. You can easily be looking at ten million dollars or more.

That price might be okay for a hugely popular superstar, but some of the smaller acts might not be able to afford that. Or even if an artist was once popular, they won’t necessarily always have the same amount of money coming in as they did in their prime, so they might not be able to afford the house in the long term.

The property taxes on these luxury houses are oftentimes more than the average American family makes in an entire year. For instance, in 50 Cent’s recent bankruptcy filings, he stated that he has over one hundred thousand dollars of monthly upkeep expenses on his gigantic Connecticut home. Now think how much a home in California would cost.

Instead of shelling out millions of dollars for a home in California, people are looking at other option with similarly spectacular views. The water front real estate in Michigan will surprise almost anyone, and these artists are building beautiful homes all across the lakeshore.

Whether you are looking at a home on Spring Lake Michigan or a home on White Lake, we are seeing huge housing developments being built all across Michigan, which is good for an economy that was heavily depressed from the last recession.

It’s also a smart financial decision for so many of these artists that find themselves completely broke after they fall from the top of the charts.

Musicians Convert Famous Bass Guitar Tracks from Vinyl to Digital

bass-guitar-booksThere’s always been a debate in what’s better, vinyl or digital? And the pros and cons of each are pretty easily identified.

Vinyl has a classic bit of nostalgia and atmosphere to it and a very distinctive sound that digital just cannot offer.

Digital, on the other hand, is widely available to everyone, it is next to impossible to destroy like a record, can sound very very good, and most importantly can be preserved for years.

Musicians Start New Bass Notation Project

The bass notation project is something that a few of us here on creatingthehive.com started in an effort to convert some of the classic EPs and albums from some of the great bass guitarists into digital documents that can be stored and preserved for years to come.

The problem with vinyl is as you would expect. They scratch, they chip, they mold, and they lose their quality over time through basic wear. You don’t have this problem with digital audio.

The bass notation project helps solve this problem and aims to preserve music history for everyone to appreciate. Say you are a student looking to learn bass guitar lessons, studying under some of the great bassists of all time can really help inspire kids to learn the bass and get involved in music.

Preserving Music for the Next Generation

Music is a form of artistic expression. Everyone realizes this, but there isn’t as much of a focus on music preservation as there is in art preservation. At least, we hadn’t noticed it.

Clearly, certain elements of music will always be here and don’t require much in the way of preservation. For example, music theory isn’t going anywhere. You will probably until the end of time be able to get a music theory textbook at your local music shop that covers everything from bass scales to bass transcriptions.

Granted, this will probably be a digital version of the book—who knows, maybe paper books will disappear altogether. The idea is, however, that music theory books—be they digital or physical copies—are not going anywhere.

The music itself, however, is much more difficult to preserve. You have with any piece of music many different tracks that combine to form the completed track that we all hear on the radio of the recording that we play back.

This is both good and bad. It gives us multiple chances to preserve the same thing, but it also makes the cost of preservation that much more expensive because you might have to preserve the bass line, guitar part, the drum track, and the singer—and that is just for a 3-4 person band. You can see how this could be quickly become costly.

We hope to expand beyond our efforts beyond bass music and musicians in the year’s to come, but right now we have to work with what we have and with the volunteers that are willing to commit their time and their efforts.

If anyone else on here like the idea of the bass notation project, be sure to let us know. We’d love your feedback on what to include and if you think there are any areas we should move to next.

Keep jammin!