VideoSheetMusic is something I invented several years ago and am continuing to improve upon. Essentially it is Karaoke for instruments. I write and arrange all the music using sheet music and/or midi files and by adjusting instrumentation and key, intensify the beauty of the flute. I select from a huge range of music, from Classical to Pop and everything in between. The music is presented with a scrolling cursor so you always know where you are in the score. The background is a grey colour to reduce contrast on TV's and computer screens and the notes are large to be read easily. I also modify the melody by taking out non-essential notes, which not only makes it less daunting and difficult to read, but also allows for individual performers to adjust for their capabilities. More advanced players can add trills or additional parts as they see fit, whereas less advanced players can read more strictly. There are always 4 staffs, with a 5th staff being like a page turn. The 5th staff is a duplicate of the first staff of the next page. This means you are never struggling to guess the next notes and yet can see several staffs at one time to get more of a feeling of the music. The 5th staff generally changes while the cursor is on the third staff. I put in a 5 - 6 second space at the beginning of each video to give the player a chance to get ready and there is always a 7 - 9 second ending with my logo to create space between songs and also to remind people where to pick up more VideoSheetMusic. AVI's I record in DivX (.avi) format because this is much clearer than .mov or .mp4 and though it is slightly larger in size, it is still much smaller than standard DVD format (.vob) and allows me to stream it and also post .avi files up for download. When files are uploaded to YouTube, they are encoded into .mp4 format and lose some of the sound and video quality, so for the best versions, visit my downloads section on flutegirl.ca DivX files play on computer and also DivX capable DVD players (look for the DivX logo on the machine). The sound from the VideoSheetMusic files is Mp3 stereo quality, created from 16 bit 44100 recordings (CD quality) To see and hear VideoSheetMusic in action visit my YouTube page or my PennyTube page (requires DivX) DVD's Some people prefer using DVD's as you can use them on a standard TV setup and thus perform for family and friends in your own living room. You can also take the DVD with you, so you always have music to practice, even when not at home. I find the A-B feature on DVD players very helpful for practice, as you can target tricky bits and practice them over and over, at tempo. I make DVD's for sale and charge $24.95 each. They are double layer and hold between 50 - 60 Videosheetmuic videos. I make them in both PAL and NTSC format and don't put on a country code, so they play anywhere. Makes a great gift for that flute player in your life! [click here] to see the song list and to order through paypal.

Send your questions, comments, and video links to:
penny@pennywill.com

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