Lady Gaga leads the nominees for this year’s MTV Music Video Awards with a record-breaking 13 nominations, including the Video of the Year and the Best Choreography categories for both her Bad Romance and Telephone music videos.  She is also the first female artist to have two nominations for the Video of the Year category.  Eminem, who is scheduled to give the opening performance, comes second with eight nominations.

Nominations for Lady Gaga include best pop video, best female video, best dance music video, best collaboration, and best choreography.  She is the artist to have the most number of nominations in a single year in MTV history.  According to her, since she received 13 nominations, she is even prouder that it is an unlucky number.

The MTV Video Music Awards will be held this September 12 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. Also scheduled to perform during the awarding ceremonies are teen sensation Justin Bieber, Usher, Paramore, Mary J. Blige, Linkin Park, Bruno Mars, B.o.B., Drake, Swiss Beatz, Florence and the Machine, and Kayne West.

Last year’s MTV Music Video Awards, which was held at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, got controversial when singer Kayne West interrupted and took the microphone from singer Taylor Swift, as she was accepting her Best Female Video award, and said that Beyonce should have won the award.  Last week, West poured his emotions via his Twitter account and acknowledged that he was wrong for what he did and apologized.  He also tweeted that he wrote a song for Swift and that he wants her to have it.  Furthermore, he tweeted that if Swift won’t take it, he will perform it for her.  However, West has not personally approached Swift after the MTV VMA incident a year ago.  There are reports that Swift feels that West is only using her to promote his new album.

Last year’s MTV Music Video Awards is not the only time when the awards ceremonies got controversial.  Madonna kissed Britney Spears in 2003 and Eminem fought a puppet in 2002.

The MTV Video Music Awards or the VMA is awarded by MTV to celebrate the best music videos of the year. The VMA was first awarded in 1984.  The awards are presented annually and broadcasted live on MTV.  Winners are presented s statue of an astronaut on the moon, being one of the earliest representations of MTV.  To date, Madonna holds the record of having the most number of wins in the VMA.

photo from www.yahoo.com

Liu Wei, a Chinese armless pianist, awed China’s Got Talent audiences at the Shanghai Grand Theater with his flawless rendition Richard Clayderman’s classic piece Mariage D’amour using only his toes.

Liu played with his toes as nimbly as a pianist’s fingers and made not a single mistake from the beginning to end of his piece.  He was given a standing ovation by the show’s judges and the audience.

He admits, though, that he could not play some beautiful musical pieces because he is not able to press keys across octaves.

The 23-year old Liu lost his arms after being electrocuted by a high voltage wire while playing hide and seek with his friends when he was 10 years old.  His two arms needed to be amputated.

Instead of resorting to hopelessness, Liu defied the odds and pursued his dream.  According to him, “For people like me, there were only two options. One was to abandon all dreams, which would lead to a quick, hopeless death; the other was to struggle without arms to live an outstanding life.”

After the accident, Liu initially was in disbelief and tried to ‘wake up from the nightmare.”  He gradually accepted his fate and was able to learn how to use his feet to do things that a normal kid can do.  He even became one of his high school soccer team’s best players

Liu started playing the piano when he was 18.  That was the time when he decided to realize his childhood dream to be a musician as he started to make a detailed plan for his life.  He learned music theory but his piano teacher told him that it is impossible to play with one’s toes.  Though he understood his teacher’s position, he persevered.

He learned to play the piano all by himself without anyone knowing, not even his parents.  He created his own style of toeing the piano keys.  He then performed in front of his friends and parents.

He started playing the piano as a hobby, saying that he enjoys playing the piano with his toes.  Though some of his friends suggested that he stop as they fear that all his efforts will be in vain, he continued developing his skill.  He chose not to believe that he can’t do certain things like other people just because he lacks arms.

Liu persevered and he found himself in the limelight five years later.  He qualified for the next round in China’s Got Talent.

Rihana Mosaic

Rihanna has stormed the pop charts for the last 3 years after signing her first record contract at just 16 years old. Her music captures the hearts of all who hear her. The passion comes through in her music and she takes her fans along for the ride.

Born in Barbados in 1988, Rihanna Fenty was found by the famous music producer Even Rogers (Jessica Simpson, NSYNC). He was holidaying with his Barbadian wife in 2003 when her talent impressed him. Rihanna’s talent also impressed the head of Def Jam Records, Jay-Z who signed her to a six album contract when she was only 16.

Born in Barbados

Growing up in Saint Michael she is the oldest of three and has two brothers. She went to primary school in Barbados and on to the Combermere School where her musical talent was developed. Once here, Rihanna and two friends formed a trio singing group. In 2004 Rihanna became a beauty pageant winner and took part in her school’s show.

The Beginning of Success

Rihanna’s first taste of fame came with the release of her debut album Music of the Sun in 2005. PondeReplay was the hit from this album that first brought her worldwide musical acclaim.

She then released A Girl Like Me in 2006 which features her first number one hit single SOS.

Then in 2007 she released her third album which had an astonishing three number one hits across the world – Umbrella, Don’t Stop the Music and Take a Bow.

Achievements

She is the first female Barbadian singer to receive a Grammy Award and only the second Barbadian artist ever to receive this honour. Rihanna has sold more than 11 million albums across the world and has the most number one hits for this century for a female solo artist.

In her short career, Rihanna has had five number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with Umbrella, Disturbia, SOS, Live your Life and Take a Bow. In little more than three short years, Rihanna has an astonishing 11 singles in the US top 40 music charts.

Rihanna’s success continues. By the middle of 2008 she had eight of the top 10 pop music single in America which makes her one of the most consistent artists of current times.

Reflection of child hood schooling often brings about a question, ‘Should I have learned how to read music?’ 7 very good reasons follow the introduction as to why learning to read music poses great value to individual capabilities. The reasons form logical arguments on how the individual benefits from music-reading knowledge.

No. 1: Communicate with Musicians Outside of your Genre

Music provides a self-based language propagated by it self. Communicating on the basis of musical language poses the only way to forge a musical relationship with other musicians. Written notation of music provides ensembles, jazz bands, choirs and opera personnel a basis on which they can work together. You must be able to speak the language of music in order to participate in the previously described groups.

No. 2: A Basis in Understanding Music Theory

Written notes constitute music theory. Understanding the written note provides structure in harmony, holding melodies, and striking chords. Future appreciation depends on learning the ropes of understanding music, now.

No. 3: Learn Songs Outside of Referential Material

Learning a song will not require repeating a CD or other audio playback mediums for the hundredth time. You will never be able to know if you truly learned the right chords by repeating a song from CD or other audio playback mediums. Music reading capabilities allow you to refer directly to a book as a resource. Learning basic notation on your own speeds up the learning process, overall. You will not be able to hear how a band plays the song in a certain way, but books provide a great basis for information.

No. 4: Authors Provide Meaning to Sound, Learn to Understand

You would be surprise by how many songs are not played the way the notes are composed on paper. At times, artists vary the playing style in contrast to their originally written musical composition. Georgia on my Mind by Hoagy Carmichael provides a great example to the difference between written composition and musical performance. Performances do not play the introduction from the written composition. Radio stations provide a good measure of how many songs do not play the way written composition directs performance. Performance of music contains a higher appeal than written composition. However, songwriters still want the public to know how their music piece originally looked in written composition.

No. 5: Reveal New Kinds of Music to your Senses

Understand written composition of music allows you to thumb through leaflets of songs and provides a way for songs to jump out out at you. A fan may fall in love with a song by browsing music in this manner. Overlooked artists have a chance of being discovered through your ability to read music.

No. 6: It’s Enjoyable!

First rides on a bicycle pose just as much difficulty in the learning process as the initial steps to reading music. You may recall taking a dive the very first time your trainer let go of the bike and left it all up to you. Despite minor injuries, you got up and did it all, again. Now you know how to ride a bike with freedom and secured skills.

No. 7: Become a Better Musician

There is a part of every musician striving to produce better musical compositions than previously written productions. Musicians hunger to uncover overlooked musical compositions, perform with strangers, and speak with confidence on current written compositions or performances. Learning to read written compositions provides a way to develop the music-oriented hungers imagined by musicians.

Learn to read music in written composition. Satisfy curiosity regarding which instrument to play. Find articles with lessons on raising your skill levels in singing, playing guitar, or performance in a band. Find ways to overcome stage fright and become a better musician along the way.