January 12, 2017

As of January 2017 "MUSIC NEWS HEARD AROUND THE WORLD"

will update on our special facebook page of the same name rather than here on the Piano Trends Website. Still the great little known stories involving music and people and how it can affect lives positively. Follow the links and LIKE the page and follow it to keep receiving notices of new stories when they appear

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October 20, 2016

Violin made from Winston Churchill Cigar Box

September 05, 2016

Why be hidebound by guitar or bass, or a slave to the woodwind? Many of us embark on our first music-making by just bashing away on whatever we can get our sticky little paws on: toy trains, boxes, long-suffering parents' faces. And some more imaginative artists carry on this childlike experimentalism into their later careers, turning a wide range of objects, animate and inanimate, into instruments. And hey, who are we to say that a trumpet is more valid than a crumpet? Open your ears and your mind......

September 02, 2016

Christine Blue was not expected to survive. After a car accident left the Cleveland area clarinetist in a coma, her doctors weren’t sure she’d even wake up, much less return to her new job as an elementary school band director. Finishing the graduate program in which she was enrolled at Case Western Reserve University seemed like an unattainable goal, and returning to her instrument seemed out of the question. COMPLETE STORY

August 18, 2016

Singer/songwriter Sting has been a prominent name in the music industry for over 45 years. The former vocalist and bassist for The Police has previously opened up about the role of music in his life. “I feel this music has nurtured me as I've been immersing myself in it. I've felt supported by it,” he told The Telegraph. 

But how does music actually affect Sting’s mind? The musician agreed to participate in an unusual neuroscience study based on brain scans. The results showed different songs that sound similar or different to Sting, and could provide insight into how gifted people, including artists and writers, find connections between things that others might not. 

July 01, 2016

Sensory Musical Story Time is geared toward children with autism, designed with assistance from a Speech-Language Pathologist to modify the popular musical storytelling series to be more sensory friendly.

"It's designed in a manner that the narrator will have a lower voice and there will be illustrations with symbols the children will recognize," said Michael Hill, executive director of the festival. "We also have environmental elements to make them more comfortable like lower lighting and lower instruments, and the melodies are more soothing."

June 20, 2016

Make Music Day, the annual global celebration featuring more than 3,000 free, outdoor music making events in the United States, returns tomorrow – June 21. The daylong event, which affirms the transformative power of music in our lives, will be experienced by millions of people in over 38 U.S. cities including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Nashville, San Diego, Seattle, Portland (OR), Madison (WI), Philadelphia, Detroit, Denver, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Chattanooga, Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Antonio and the entire state of Vermont, while smaller festivities are popping up around the country...

June 14, 2016

The technology we use to peer out into deep space is becoming amazingly more powerful all the time, which means scientists are tapping into a constant stream of new discoveries and information from the Universe around us.

But few findings are as unusual and intriguing as this one: audio recordings have been made for the first time from a group of stars up to 13 billion years old. You can listen to them Here

May 11, 2016

The world's first neural synthesizer creates music from human cells...

Music makes the difference without speaking words.....

Louis Landon is a great friend of Piano Trends and a great performing and recording artist to the world. His latest recording examplifies his versitality and depth to his music. Read the reviews on Mainly Piano by clicking here.

Former Bryant Junior High music teacher Jimmy Hamilton vividly recalls having Prince Rogers Nelson, the "shy, smart" kid he taught piano, in his class in the early 1970s. 

April 26th from 6pm -9pm Piano Trends Music & Band will host a special evening showcasing intermediate and professional level band instruments. 

An 11-year-old blind, autistic boy got the chance of a lifetime when his musical idol, Ben Folds, gave him a special VIP meet-and-greet - and joined the boy in a piano duet.

Ben Schneider was born in 'septic shock,' meaning his body was severely infected due to his mother's waters breaking a week before she went into labor. He is legally blind, severely autistic and has an IQ of 47.

When Ben was one, doctors told his adoptive father, Rob, that he wouldn't be able to do 'normal' things such as play the piano. But Ben - joined by the leader of the Ben Folds Five - proved them wrong Thursday,

April 04, 2016

Recently, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter returned to his old stomping grounds at Johnson Central High School to perform and hopefully inspire a new generation of artists. Stapleton's whirlwind two-day trip included the donation of $57,000 worth of much-needed band instruments by Lifting Lives through its partnership with the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation. The Johnson Central music teacher and a handful of students were surprised with the donation and a visit with Stapleton..

March 21, 2016

The 300th episode of "NCIS," which aired Tuesday March 15th,  featured some real heroes.

No, not Jethro, DiNozzo, Abby or even Ducky. They're just TV characters.

Try Arthur Bloom and the MusiCorps Wounded Warrior Band.

Bloom founded MusiCorps, a music rehabilitation program for severely wounded soldiers who are recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in 2007.

March 11, 2016

A sound experience lets you manipulate multi-instrumental compositions from a single source

As part of Deloitte Digital‘s SXSW Interplay Lab, visitors to the festival can enter a musical installation that pushes the envelope of sound experimentation.

March 05, 2016

 Pediatric patients at Sutter Women’s and Children’s Center are using music therapy to help them cope with their physical and psychological needs during treatment.

March 05, 2016

A new program at the Bismarck Public School District is helping give every student an opportunity to experience a music education.

February 27, 2016

 Evidence presented by researchers as Johns Hopkins University suggests that the ability to understand pitch may be a fundamental skill that likely originated early in primate evolution.

February 27, 2016

Ken Chinn of Longview personifies the definition of a real “guitar hero.” In three years, Chinn has given away 500 guitars to a range of kids—some with health challenges, some with musical interest but no means to pursue it, and some simply needing a creative pastime. Mundt Music of Longview LLC is a NAMM member.  

February 27, 2016

When six musicians were invited to spend a day in a recording studio making music together, they had absolutely no idea what lay in store for them. They had travelled long distances from far parts of the country to be together, never having met before, united only by their passion for music.