Business/ Affiliates/ Education and Motivational Word,: Jul 30, 2009

Thursday, July 30, 2009

The Piano’s Ancestors

The harp and the lyre were among the earliest hand-plucked stringed instruments. (Genesis 4:21) Later came the dulcimer, whose player hit the strings with small hammers. In Europe during the middle Ages, instruments were developed with a keyboard for plucking or striking the strings, the most popular being the clavichord was shaped like a rectangular box with a lid, and its strings were struck from below by little metal strips called tangents. It played expressively, but its tiny voice was easily drowned out by other instruments and buy singers. The bigger harpsichord, looking rather like the modern grand piano, long strings that were plucked by quills or plectra. It produce a strong resonant tone but without any variation of volume.
By 1700, with new dramatic, expressive music being composed, musicians wanted a keyboard instrument that played sensitively, as the clavichord did, but with the power of harpsichord.

The Piano Arrives
The Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori combined the basic design of the harpsichord; using small leather- topped wooden hammers to strike the strings. He called his invention the gravicembalo col piano e forte (harpsichord with soft and loud), shortened to the pianoforte, or piano. Here was a keyboard instrument that had a fuller, richer tone and could be played softer or louder.
Sadly, cristofori did not live to see the success of his new instrument. Because few people sowed interest in it, he went back to making harpsichords. Almost 30 year after Cristofori’s first piano, German organ builder Gottfried Silbermann took another look at the design and started making his own pianos. Craftsmen in Germany and Austria continued to experiment, conxentrating on building a smaller, lighter model called a square piano.
In England another group of piano makers were at work. They had emigrated from German in the late 1750’s. One of them, Johannes Zumpe, developed a version of the square piano that sold well. Sebastien Erard of France and other makers in Europe and America added further improvements. Astute Scottish cabinetmaker John Broadwood perceived that the piano would be ideal for the young ladies of the newly affluent middle class. Soon his company was busy turning out large numbers of both square and grand pianos.
The next challenge was to design a compact piano with the superior sound of a grand. So piano were built upward and not outward, becoming ever larger. The vertical strings of one Broadwood model rose 2.7 meters above the keyboard; but being distinctly top-heavy, it proved too dangerous to play! Another upright called the giraffe model was really a grand piano set on end with its tail in the air. John Isaac Hawkins, an Englishman, designed the firs successful upright in 1800 by placing the lower end of the strings near floor level. This eventually led to the phasing out of the square piano.

posted by Arch Bishop, Dr J. O Faola @ 1:25 PM

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints. Rheumatoid arthritis can also cause inflammation of the tissue around the joints, as well as in other organs in the body. Autoimmune diseases are illnesses that occur when the body tissues are mistakenly attacked by its own immune system. The immune system is a complex organization of cells and antibodies designed normally to "seek and destroy" invaders of the body, particularly infections. Patients with autoimmune diseases have antibodies in their blood that target their own body tissues, where they can be associated with inflammation. Because it can affect multiple other organs of the body, rheumatoid arthritis is referred to as a systemic illness and is sometimes called rheumatoid disease. Typically, rheumatoid arthritis is a progressive illness that has the potential to cause joint destruction and functional disability.
While rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic illness, meaning it can last for years, patients may experience long periods without symptoms.

posted by Arch Bishop, Dr J. O Faola @ 1:20 PM

Nigeria’s Chance of Catching Up With The Globalised Society is Being Hampered By The Persistent Strikes In The Country.

AS nations of the world continue to strive to stabilize their economies, the effect of industrial action of any kind negates the aim of the evolving Information Society (IS).

Though IS may mean different things to different people, the generic understanding connotes that it is a society in which all citizens of the world are recognized as human with access to use of information resources for sustainable, economic and social development. This is especially so, now the world has been reduced to a global village through deployment of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Like the Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Mr. Yoshio Utsumi, who is the chief host of the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS), noted recently, though technologies through ICT could bring human beings together, to share veritable information to better their lives, it would not bring food on our tables, but humans could.

Governance should, therefore, encourage good living both economically and socially of their citizens to bear on decisions and actions taken by leaders of the world culminating into good governance and transparency.

This brings to mind the issue of industrial actions in a third world country like Nigeria at this time in point.

Strike as it is also known is defined as a period of time when a group of workers deliberately stop working because of a disagreement about pay, working conditions, according to the new edition of Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.

Strike in Nigeria dates back to the pre-independence era when Nigerian workers led by Pa Michael Imodu, went on strike to protest poor treatment by the then colonial masters. This has since become a frequent occurrence especially in this dispensation.

The impact of strikes to a third world nation like Nigeria, would not only devalue her economic system, but widen the digital divide which Information Society attempts to bridge by encouraging ICT deployment and recognition of equal rights as enshrined in almost every constitution of most nations in the world today and Human Rights Declaration of the United Nations.

To some industry analysts, strike does not just occur, it takes literarily poor leadership of governments in military and civilian dictatorships settings to occur.

This is because, dictators are known to always have their way no matter whose goose is gored. This was one of the reasons why the United Nations encouraged democratic governments all over the world.

posted by Arch Bishop, Dr J. O Faola @ 12:59 PM

About Me

Name: Arch Bishop, Dr J. O Faola
Home: Shibiri Ekunpa Oto-Awori LGDA, Lagos, Nigeria
About Me: His Grace Prof. Prince J. Faola (JP)., He is the Senior Pastor of the Shield Of Faith Gospel Mission Int. and the founder of the “Joel International Ministerial and Theological Academy”. He is an international Bible teacher and a passionate author and bible expositor, he is a patron and adviser for Christ Believers Ministry. He is a member of BSN and IMCGBN, the President of JECAL CLUB, The founder of the PARLEY CLUB INT, Chairman of I.M.A.T.E.B. Chairman Board of Regents Christ’s College of Theology, a well known Radio Pastor and most sought after aggressive motivational speaker.
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