Intellectual benefits of music lessons

"Music lessons may offer children intellectual benefits and fine-tune their sensitivity to emotion in speech, according to research by two University of Toronto psychologists presented at APA's 2003 Annual Convention.
In one of the reported studies--in press at Psychological Science--E. Glenn Schellenberg, PhD, recruited 144 6-year-olds to take free weekly arts lessons at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto for one year. He randomly assigned children to either keyboard or voice lessons--the experimental groups--or drama lessons or no lessons--the control groups. The drama lessons served to control for increases in IQ that could result from participation in any extracurricular activity, said Schellenberg.
He tested children's IQ before and after the year of lessons, and found that while IQs increased across the board by about 4.5 points because of attending a year of school, scores for the children in the music groups increased an additional 2.5 points.
That's a small, but significant, connection, he noted. He suggested that the periods of focused attention, memorization and concentration associated with the lessons and practice may explain the increase."

For more information and more of this article, visit the link below:

http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct03/lessons.aspx

Gearing up for band!

Here at Jammers we're all stocked up with the all the accessories you need to get going this band season.  From reeds and mouthpieces to flip folders and music stands we've got it covered.

Don't have your own instrument and don't want to spend a fortune buying one?  Jammers has a month to month rental option.  Instruments are provided from Veritas Musical Instruments which are available for rent.  These are all professional student models from brands such as Bach, Blessing, Conn, Selmer and more.

What's so great about this is that you can take the rental to ownership or return it whenever you like and your payments will stop that day.

Give us a call or send us an email to find out more!

$19.95 Guitar Setups and more!

Need to setup your guitar, bass, or violin? $19.95 plus a set of strings will get your standard acoustic, electric, or violin setup.  Floyd Rose systems will be $29.95.  What's a setup include you ask? Jake, our guitar tech will change the strings, straighten out the neck, check the electronics, and set the intonation. If your at all interested in playing an in tune guitar and one that plays comfortably, here's your chance!

Walden Acoustics B-Stock sale!

What's a B-Stock you ask? It's a label that the manufacturer, in this case, Walden Guitars, gives any of their instruments that may have a minor defect to it, stating that it's not up to top quality standards.  This doesn't mean that the guitar isn't still in great shape.  More often than not, the B-stock label means that the finish of the guitar has a small blemish to it.

This is good news for you because these guitars are discounted even further from the normal price that we would sell them at.  To make it even better, Walden Guitars are still honoring their factory limited lifetime warranty!  They even throw in a gig bag for most of these guitars.  Whata guy, whata guy!

Walden Acoustics carry most all body types for acoustics from a standard Dreadnought to Grand Auditorium and Classical.  They are all made from the finest woods including Solid Sitka Spruce for most of the tops to the dark and beautiful Indian Rosewood for the back and sides. Other woods include Western Red Cedar, African Mahogany, and Engelmann Spruce.

These guitars are made in China however not through factory machines like most guitar companies produce.  Back in November of '09 we had the great pleasure to meet Jon Lee, guitar luthier and CEO of the Walden Guitar Company. He explained to us how he knew to make an excellent guitar it need to have the human touch.  The following words are from Walden guitars themseleves.

"Walden's manufacturing process draws specifically from Jon Lee's experience as a luthier at CFox Guitars, and from techniques used at USA large production shops such as Martin and Taylor. Our guiding principal is to respect the elements of the guitar building process that are critical to producing quality stable, excellent sounding guitars.  Knowing what we absolutely can not compromise and knowing what we must do to create instruments at this price level.  

In our four broad departments: Parts Fabrication, Body-Neck Assembly, Finish, and Setup, each process has its own jig, machine fixture or mold that ensures the consistency of result. Most work is done by hand with recognizable standard woodworking machines such as table saws, jointers, routers, band saws, etc.  Some automated machines are used when either a better result can ensue, such as a fingerboard fret-slotting machine, or when an operation is too laborious for an employee.

Looking at the history of Asian guitar making, most current factories trace their history to Japanese methods from the 1960's where they were essentially producing low cost alternatives to USA and European made instruments.  As labor costs rose in Japan, this system of guitar-building moved to Korea and Taiwan, and later Mainland China and now Indonesia.  

Many Asian operations still make "guitar shaped objects."  This is due to a lack of understanding of the fundamentals of guitar design or manufacturing, or due to the business model of producing the cheapest instruments dictating their choice of poor materials or poor method.  

From a product standpoint, outside of procedural differences, all Walden guitars incorporate a bolt-on neck joint and 2-way adjustable truss rods which are both less common in Asian manufacturing.  Fret ends are hand shaped and polished above standards even seen at Martin." - Walden Guitars

Jammers now proudly carries Schecter Guitars!

Jammers is proud to announce that we now stock Schecter Guitar Research guitars! We invite you all to come in and check them out. We were in search of an awesome quality guitar at a fair price and this is it. Coming already set up from the factory, which most guitar companies of today don't bother with, these guitars have been checked and checked again, not overlooking any detail. Here's what other people had to say about Schecter. .

"Schecter Guitar Research is another guitar manufacturer that creates quality guitars for musicians, and they boast an impressive list of professional players who love their instruments. Though the company officially started manufacturing guitars in 1989, they were in business long before that manufacturing replacement guitar parts for guitars such as Fenders and Gibsons. The company also changed ownership in 1989, around the time when they started manufacturing their own guitars.

Schecter Guitar Research has its beginnings in the United States. They ve had locations in both California and Texas over the course of the history of their company. However, some of their guitars are currently being manufactured in South Korea, their less expensive models and the custom models, are made in California. The website comes equipped with a feature that lets you make your customized guitar orders. They also include some interesting examples of custom guitars.

In terms of their guitars, they have a certain sound that lends themselves nicely to hard rock and metal. Their electric guitars have a heavy, rich tone that the harder rock artists prefer. However, they do have a line of guitars that appeals to both jazz and blues players.

Some of their guitars closely resemble certain Fender and Gibson models, such as the stratocaster (Fender) and the Les Paul (Gibson). Though the company is small, the actually have a wide range of guitars that appeal to different artists.

The types of guitars that are available include their custom models, the Diamond Series, guitars that resemble certain Fender Guitars and Gibson Guitars, and other models. Some of these other models include the 30th Anniversary Edition, the C-Series, the S-Series, the Tempest Series, the Hellcat Series, the Hellraiser Series, the Damien Series, and the Omen Series. For more information on the types of guitars that are available please visit their website."

http://www.schecterguitars.com/

Keep in mind we can order anything you see from the Schecter website. So if we don't have it hanging on our wall, let us know which Schecter creation you want and we'll get it!

Health benefits of music making

Our very own Dave Dale, manager here at Jammers Music Center, has recently been investigating the positive effects music making can have on the mind and body. He wrote an article that was published in St. Cloud In the News.

"A recent research study has indicated that recreational music making (playing an instrument) can help reduce stress, and not only psychologically, but biologically. The study concluded that engaging in a calming, expressive activity (in this case, a keyboard lesson) can actually 'turn off the DNA-based switches that literally turn on components of the human stress response.' This shows promise for possibly treating and preventing diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and high blood pressure. So not only does making music make you smarter, it can, along with proper diet and exercise, help your overall health and wellbeing. For more information on the study go to http://www.mind-body.org/."

Feel better, play music!

All ages Music Lessons

Jammers Music Center holds private, one-on one music and voice lessons taken once a week, on the same time and same day each week, and are paid one month in advance. We have 10 lesson rooms in use Monday through Saturday holding lessons for most instruments.

Guitar, piano, drums, voice, bass, violin, saxophone, trumpet and more! Stop in or call us to see what times our instructors have available that best fits your schedule.

You can email us to inquire about lessons as well by emailing us at:

ejammersmusicc@cfl.rr.com

Overhauled!

Come on in and see more of the fresh new look for the start of 2010!

Jammers eBay store

Can't find the time to come in and visit us? Well why not. . .? If you can't though, we'd love for you to check out the Jammers Online music store now up at eBay.com

http://stores.ebay.com/jammersonline?_rdc=1

Lots of things from instruments to PA gear to instructional books and DVD's. Thanks!

About Jammers Music Center

Jammer's Music Center opened in September of 1991, and has been serving the music needs of Central Florida for the past 18 years. We offer guitars, basses, amplifiers, drums and percussion instruments, band and orchestra instruments/rentals and all the accessories.

Music education is a big part of Jammers Music Center. We have music lessons that are taken once a week, on the same time and same day each week, with no registration fee or contract required. All music lessons are held at our store.

Instrument repair service, electronic repair service, guitar set-ups, pick up installation, and restrings on all stringed instruments are also things we do here. We stock a large selection of print music, instructional books and DVDs as well.

Call us at 407-847-6744.
Email us at ejammersmusicc@cfl.rr.com

FEEL BETTER, PLAY MUSIC!


Thanks and keep checking back!

-The Jammers Staff