Beating the Way to the Top in Music - Release of Cool Conductor

Warrington, United Kingdom, June 02, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Many people dream of conducting a great orchestra. Now, a new website game allows you to do just that. Cool Conductor (www.coolconductor.co.uk) has just been launched by Hofnote, a company dedicated to helping music students develop listening skills so that they can perform music with greater understanding and sensitivity.

In the game, students recognise the beat of the music and use traditional hand movements for time signatures in directing the orchestra.

This new game has been launched to give students a glimpse of what it is like to be on the rostrum leading the orchestra to perform to perfection. The road to becoming a sensitive and skilled musician can seem very long and winding; especially in the early stages when struggling to maintain the enthusiasm to practise regularly. Cool Conductor claims to make this so much easier.

Hofnote are the inventors of the game. They believe passionately that learning to listen and understand music directly influences and informs performance.

The importance of impeccable timing was humorously put by the famous pianist, Artur Schnabel who said, “The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes —ah, that is where the art resides.”

Practical music examination Boards also recognise the importance of learning to listen and recognise the detail in music and a part of the performance exams is the aural tests where the examiner plays music and then asks the student questions about it. Hofnote’s own website gives students an opportunity to practise for these tests. Music teachers are registering in their thousands for the site and students from across the world are enrolling on courses specifically designed for each grade.

Even the most dedicated musicians need some light relief and Cool Conductor is the ideal way to relax for a moment and let your heart dream of expressing yourself through the music of a great orchestra.

HofNote is an established Gold Business member of the entertainment industry company, TalentGold and their profile is at http://www.talentgold.com/profiles/100640. Paul Abrams, Publicity Manager at TalentGold explained why they are so excited about Cool Conductor. "We have many talented artists on our books, so it's great to have HofNote as a business member helping develop the musical ability of our members. Cool Conductor is a fun way of helping serious musicians understand the skill and art of conductiing - although we think it will help anyone interested in developing their musical ability."

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Contacts

Christine Hough, proprietor of HofNote is available for interviews and appearances. HofNote would also welcome reviews of the company and is happy to provide further material for any feature articles, which can be focussed on your readership, editorial style and content

Please contact press@talentgold.com.

The press office is available on +44 (0)7 803 938 05 (although initial contact via email is preferred to ensure that they have all your contact details.) Please ask for Martin, Paul or Vikki.

Further Information for Editors

HofNote is an established music training company with over 3,000 enrolled students and 2,000 music teachers. It is run by the wife and husband partnership of Christine and Lester Hough

Christine explains why the site is important to her, “I would love to have taken my violin playing further but gave up because I developed the art of reading my teacher’s face to see whether I was playing in tune rather than learning to listen and build up my intonation. One day his face told me something was badly wrong and I ground to a halt, only to find that the reason for his agony was that he had got his foot stuck under the piano stool and my playing was fine. In shame I stopped but even then wished I was more musical. I have spoken to others who have dropped out of music lessons, and often the reason has boiled down to not learning to listen and understand the music. It is great now to bring this resource to help others develop the skills I needed and give music teachers another tool for them to use.”

Lester on the other hand is a very talented musician; pianist and composer, who has developed and tested our training package over a number of years, testing it on his own pupils.

• Lester is the Principal of Hofnote Music Academy in Yorkshire and a qualified musician and teacher. He has taught in state schools, privately and in sixth-form colleges, working with adults and children for over 30 years, and served on the Local Education Authority Music Consultative Committee.

• He has also worked as musical director in staging musicals and as a composer, he has composed a wide variety of works, which have been performed from symphonies to pop operas.

During his varied career, one thing has remained constant and that is the satisfaction he gets in seeing people exceed their expectations and come alive to the wonderful world of music.

TalentGold is one of the fastest growing entertainment specific social networking sites. It contains a wide variety of talent from new and emerging talent to established chart-toppers from the 60’s. Its main website is at www.talentgold.com. TalentGold is dedicated to developing the talent of its members and providing publicity services to assist them in their careers.