In general, the more parts there are in a musical composition the harder it is to compose because they all have to fit together to sound nice. The 16th century composer Thomas Tallis wrote a motet called "Spem in alium" which is in 40 parts. A choir of at least 40 people is needed to sing it, and even then each person will be singing something different to all the others.
A slightly different (but related) meaning of “part” can be the actual printed music that a player in an orchestra or band puts on the music stand to play from. The oboe part, for example, will just have the notes that the oboe plays. In contrast, the conductor has a musical score in which all the instrumental parts are written underneath one another.
The word "part" can also be used in its normal meaning of "section" (i.e. a bit of something). We can say: “the first part of the movement is played just by the woodwind instruments”.
Sometimes a large work like an oratorio will be split into two or three “Parts” (in opera these would be called “Acts”).
Videocassette recorder
Videocassette recorder (VCR) is an electronic device that records and plays videotapes. Most use VHS or Beta cassettes that contain recordings of movies and other programs (such as music videos, exercise videos, and so on). To watch a recording using a VCR, the VCR has to be connected to a television set.
VCRs at first were mainly used to record programs from television broadcasts. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, many people used VCRs to record their favorite television shows to watch them later. This was called time-shifting.
In the mid-1980s, VCRs became a very popular way for people to watch movies and other recorded programs on their home television. Until the 21st century, video rental stores offered a large selection of movies recorded on VHS tapes that customers could rent. In the 1980s, some video rental stores also offered a smaller number of movies recorded on Beta tapes.
In the 1980s, VHS was involved in a format war with Sony's Betamax. VHS won the format war. Betacam, a variant of Betamax designed specifically for professional camcorders, did become popular in television studios, but consumers used VHS at home.
In 1974, the Japanese government's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) tried to force the Japanese video industry to agree on just one home video recording format, in order to avoid consumer confusion. Later, Sony built a prototype of a Betamax VTR. Sony presented the prototype to MITI, and convinced them to use Betamax as the technical standard. Sony was then allowed to charge other companies licensing fees to use the Betamax technical standard, so that they could also build and sell Betamax machines.
JVC believed that an open standard (a technical standard that is open and free for anyone to use) like VHS was better for the consumer, so they fought against the MITI and Sony. JVC attempted to convince other companies, including Matsushita, to use VHS instead of Betamax. Matsushita agreed with JVC because Matsushita worried that Sony might become the most powerful company in the video recording industry if the Betamax format was the only one that the MITI allowed them to sell. Matsushita also disliked the fact that Betamax systems could only record one hour of video.
Because Matsushita agreed with JVC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, and Sharp began to support the VHS technical standard. When Sony released its Betamax machines in Japan in 1975, it pressured the MITI to support Sony even more. However, the combination of JVC and the other companies was much stronger, and eventually the MITI stopped trying to create a single technical standard for the whole industry. JVC released the first VHS machines in Japan in late 1976, and then in the United States in early 1977. Sony continued to sell Betamax machines, and they competed with VHS throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s.
In countries that use the NTSC technical standard for television broadcasting, the Beta I version of Betamax was able to record one hour of video at a tape speed of 1.5 inches per second (ips), which was similar to a VHS standard-play mode (SP). Originally, VHS recorded two hours of video at 1.31 ips. Betamax's smaller-sized cassettes were not able to contain as much magnetic tape as VHS cassettes. They could not compete fit longer lengths of tape into the cassettes to match VHS's two-hour recording time. Instead, Sony had to slow the tape speed down to 0.787 ips (Beta II) in order to reach two hours of video recording in the same cassette size. This meant that the television picture produced by a Betamax tape was worse than VHS when comparing two-hour recordings. Sony eventually released a longer Betamax cassette called Beta III which allowed NTSC Betamax to record more than two hours, but by then VHS had already won the format war.
VHS also used a less complicated set of mechanisms to read the magnetic tape than Betamax, and VHS machines were faster at rewinding (winding the magnetic tape back to its starting place so that the video starts from the beginning the next time) and fast-forwarding than Betamax machines.
In countries that use the PAL and SECAM technical standards for their television broadcasting, Betamax's recording time was similar to VHS and the picture on the television was at least as good as VHS.
In the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, the DVD player replaced the VCR as the most common way to watch movies on a home television. The VCR sales dropped later, causing the VCR to be used less by people. VCRs are still available, but fewer stores offer them, because fewer people want them.
DVD player
A DVD player is a home media device that plays DVDs (also called "digital versatile discs"). The first DVD player was created by Sony and Pacific Digital Company and released in Japan on November 1, 1996. The DVD player would later be released in the United States on March 19, 1997.
Labour (economics)
Labor is work done by people. Labor is one of three factors of production. The other two factors are land and capital.
People who can work are also known as human capital, referring not necessarily to what they actually do, but to their abilities.
Zach Braff
Zachary Braff (born April 6, 1975, South Orange, New Jersey) is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. He became famous in the early 2000s playing the part of "Dr. John Dorian" on the NBC series "Scrubs". Since then, he has written, starred in and directed the "Garden State". He also has directed multiple music videos. Braff is a Democrat and attended the 2012 Democratic National Convention in support of President Obama's re-election. He directed his first movie. It is called "Wish I Was Here".
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American sitcom. It is about doctors and nurses in a hospital, and the title "Scrubs" comes from the name of the clothes they wear to keep themselves from getting dirty.
The series, which ran for nine seasons, was well known for its creative flashbacks and fantasies.
The first season introduces John Michael "J.D." Dorian and his best friend Christopher Turk in their first year out of medical school as interns at Sacred Heart Hospital.
Flashback
A flashback is a technique used by writers which is often used in movies, television and literature. It involves a character remembering something that happened to him in the past. "Scrubs" is a television show that uses "flashbacks" often.
The term is also used colloquially, to describe lingering effects of a drug (such as LSD), or memories of a bad experience triggered by things in the present.
Widescreen
Widescreen is a video format often used in movies. It is also becoming very popular for television and other things like Computer monitors.
Widescreen is often used as it let more of an image to be seen on the screen.