In the United Kingdom, Scotland and England both have midland areas that are famous enough to be called the "Midlands" (as a name, not just as a description). In Wales the term for the central region is "Mid Wales" (not "The Welsh Midlands").
The rest of this article deals with the English Region known simply as The Midlands, which is more or less the territory of the early-medieval kingdom of Mercia.
The area lies between Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales, and includes the counties of Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, the West Midlands and Worcestershire. The 2001 census also included Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire in the Midlands but these are not generally considered to be part of the Midlands but East Anglia.
There are two administrative regions of England in the Midlands: West Midlands and East Midlands. Taken together, these regions do not fully cover the traditional Midlands:
The "midland" status of Cheshire is often debated. South Cheshire has strong links with North Staffordshire (definitely in the Midlands), and North Cheshire with Merseyside and Manchester (both definitely in Northern England). Officially Cheshire is now part of the North West region.
The largest Midlands conurbation, which includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton, is approximately covered by a metropolitan county (which also includes Coventry) also called the West Midlands. Thus, there are two West Midlands, a Region and a (smaller) County.
Parts of the East Midlands are also densely populated, particularly the triangle formed by the cities of Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.
The South Midlands have an own government for development. They include Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire with northern Buckinghamshire. In other context Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire are not considered part of the Midlands. They are in the administrative regions of the South East and the East of England.
Midlands (disambiguation)
There are several regions in the world known as the Midlands. These include:
Jaworzno
Jaworzno is a city in Poland in Silesian Voivodeship. It has about 96 600 inhabitants and 152,2 km².
Volt
The volt (symbol: V) is the SI derived unit of electric potential difference or electromotive force (also known as voltage). It is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827), who invented the voltaic pile, the first chemical battery.
The volt is defined as the potential difference across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power. Hence, it is the base SI representation m · kg · s · A, which can be equally represented as one joule of energy per coulomb of charge, J/C.
In the "hydraulic analogy" sometimes used to explain electric circuits by comparing them to water-filled pipes, voltage is like water pressure - it determines how fast the electrons will travel through the circuit. Current (in amperes), in the same analogy, is a measure of the volume of water that flows past a given point, the rate of which is determined by the voltage, and the total output measured in watts. The equation that brings all three components together is: volts × amperes = watts
Nominal voltages of familiar sources:
Note: Where 'RMS' (root mean square) is stated above, the peak voltage is formula_2 times greater than the RMS voltage for a sinusoidal signal.
In 1800, as the result of a professional disagreement over the galvanic response advocated by Luigi Galvani, Alessandro Volta developed the so-called Voltaic pile, a forerunner of the battery, which produced a steady electric current. Volta had determined that the most effective pair of dissimilar metals to produce electricity was zinc and silver. In the 1880s, the International Electrical Congress, now the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), approved the volt for electromotive force. The volt was defined as the potential difference across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power.
Music competition
A music competition is an event in which people compete for prizes by performing music. Music competitions can be for solo performers or for small or large groups such as orchestras, bands or choirs. Some competitions are for young people who are starting to make a professional career in music. Other music competitions may be for amateurs, which means that professional musicians are not allowed to compete.
The person who decides who is the winner is called the adjudicator. Some big festivals have a team of several adjudicators who decide together on the winner.
The British and International Federation of Music Festivals organizes music competitions for amateurs in many parts of the British Isles. Children and adults can take part, competing in classes for music, speech and drama and dance. Competitions like these are often called "festivals" because the main reason for taking part is to enjoy performing rather than just to win.
There are many big international competitions for some of the most talented musicians from all over the world. Winning a big competition can help a young musician to start a successful career. Some people think it can also be a bad thing to win a big competition, especially for musicians who are still very young. It may make them a star for a short time but they still have to get better and mature as a musician and a person.
Some of the most famous international music competitions are:
In popular music one of the great European events is the Eurovision Song Contest.
Adjudicator
An adjudicator is someone who decides on a winner at a competition for music or theatre. The adjudicator will always be somebody who has a lot of experience in what he is adjudicating. In big international festivals, a team of several adjudicators may decide together on the winners. In amateur competitions, the adjudicator may also talk to the competitors after they have performed and give them advice. Competitors are often given first, second and third prizes.
In Law, an adjudicator is someone who decides who is right when a group of people cannot agree on something.
Criticism
Criticism is a word used in two senses. Originally, it meant "a scholarly analysis and balanced judgement". Later (mid-20th century) it came to mean "a hostile attack" pointing out the bad features of the topic.
In ancient Greek "kritos" meant judge, and "kritikos" meant the critic. Related Greek terms are krinein (separating out, deciding), krei- (to sieve, discriminate, or distinguish). The word moved from Greek to Latin ("Criticus", a judge) to French ("critique") to English. The words "critic" and "critical" existed in the English language from the mid-16th century, and the word "criticism" first made its appearance in English in the early 17th century.
Arthur
Arthur is a male name that can also mean:
Eduard Hanslick
Eduard Hanslick (born Prague September 11, 1825; died Baden, Austria, August 6, 1904) was a famous music critic. He wrote about music that was being composed in his time. He liked the music of composers like Brahms and Schumann but hated the music of Wagner and Liszt. Their music sounded too modern for his taste.
He was born into a German-speaking family. His father was a music teacher. When he was 18 Hanslick went to study music with Tomášek, one of Prague's most important musicians. He also studied law at Prague University. He did not study music at university but he knew a lot about music and played the piano very well. He started writing music reviews (writing about concerts that had taken place). For many years he wrote reviews in a paper called "Neue freie Presse". He became professor of history and music at the University of Vienna and was an adjudicator at lots of music festivals. His most famous book was called "Vom Musikalisch-Schönen" ("About Beauty in Music").