• Kanye West: in just a few short years, he has emerged as one of music's premiere behind-the-scenes hitmakers. But it took a near-fatal car crash—and one of the year's most inventive songs—for him to take center stage

• MTNA: Music Teachers National Association

• MTNA Bylaws - Music Teachers National Association

• Celebrating certification - parents on why they chose a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music

• Directory of summer programs - music programs - Directory

• The Music Lesson, by Katharine Weber, New York, Crown Publishers, 1998; 178 pages, $21 hardcover. - Review - book review

• MTNA bylaws - Music Teachers National Association

The download. label that's music can be downloaded for free

Every Sunday supplement worth its rock salt prophesied that "crunk" would be one of the cultural highlights of 2005. Crunk (combining "crazy" and "drunk") is a supposedly new hip-hop sub-genre that prizes hedonism, bling and no-brainer party rhythms over all else. It may not sound like a breakthrough, and that's because it isn't. The papers have been duped by old wine--or perhaps old Cristal--in new bottles.

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Voice of praise: a new, dynamic group of singers is taking gospel music to new heights

WITH the same spirit and enthusiasm exhibited by legends like Mahalia and the venerable Thomas Dorsey, today-'s new young gospel music performers--including Smokie Norful, Tonex and Israel Houghton & New Breed--are still singing the good news of praise begun by the gospel pioneers. But they are kicking up the praise level with a new beat and a new acceptance in the marketplace.

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Class conscious: I've always believed in a hierarchy of rock music. No Meatloaf for me

Is it snobbish to object to the star rating system by which most art forms are now graded in the press? I was reading a few star-rated theatre reviews in a paper this week, and when I turned to the obituaries afterwards, I expected to see the lives described there given a mark out of five. This will happen in the future, I guarantee, and it will generate much controversy: "Did you see that Tony Blair got only three stars in the Guardian?"

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Hip-hop's finest: whether these artists' offerings hit platinum or not, their music is worth a million

After 25 years, we still love hip-hop music. It's that classic boom-bap sound of the Golden Era. It's the lyrics that can entertain, portray street grit or teach us about ourselves. The emcees, deejays and producers featured here are driven by love of hip-hop culture rather than mere profit--you can tell from the musical chances they take. Our favorite artists have stayed true to rap's legacy.

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Taking it to the streets: from our pages to a stage at Spelman College, Take Back the Music goes on the road

The SBX-80 uses SMPTE time code as its basis to pull off the magic it performs. SMPTE which stands for The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, is based on a clock, i.e. hours, minutes, seconds, frames ( a division of seconds ) and bits ( a division of frames. Seconds are usually divided into 30 frames ( audio ), 24 frames ( film ) and 25 frames ( video and european standard ). Frames are usually divided into bits.

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