There are many websites which claim to teach you to play piano by ear. But, the real question is; does it work? Can you truly learn to play the piano strictly by ear? While I believe it is possible, I believe that this method has its limitations.

First of all, learning to play by ear generally means that you need to be able to hear pitch and gage the quality of chords with your ear. In other words you would need to be able to distinguish the difference between major and minor chords, dominant and diminished etc. The only problem is most people do not possess an ear capable of such distinctions.

I’ve been playing the piano for 36 years and I often cannot tell the difference between chords. How is someone with no experience supposed to do this? Does this mean that my ear isn’t any good? Quite the contrary, I have very good relative pitch and can often hear entire chord progressions but often miss the nuances of each specific chord. Therefore an approach which is solely geared to hearing the changes has its limitations.

The other problem with learning by ear is that you cannot gain a complete understanding of music just by listening. You see, music is like math. It has formative structure derived from centuries of musicians and teachers who have dedicated their lives to the understanding a betterment of each specific musical genre. To discount this process and work around it using just your ear is counter productive.

For example; let’s say you’re going to learn to play the blues. If you learn by ear that would mean you would have to hear not only the dominant seventh chords, then the melody which is derived from the blues scale, the rhythm which comes from structured meter and the re-harmonization of the chord structure all without understanding the words I just said. It would mean you would have to hear all of this without knowing what its called, how it works and how it all comes together. You would learn by watching someone else play the piano, copy it and repeat it until it sounds the same as what you just hear.

Not only is this a completely inefficient way of learning it is highly limited because you cannot gain an understanding of what it is you’re actually doing. Only until you are able to comprehend and dissect each specific aspect of the music can you fully appreciate and learn from it.

I believe that it’s highly productive to learn how music is formulated rather than just hearing it and trying to repeat it. Why? Because that way you can stretch the boundaries of learning and be able to move your playing to another level. Even if you were able to copy certain aspects of learning to play by ear that would severely limit you from moving beyond that point because you simply cannot understand what it is you’re doing.

It would be like trying to build a house with no foundation. Eventually if you wanted to add an extra floor of musical knowledge your paper thin layer of foundation and understanding couldn’t possibly support it.

So, what’s a better way to learn? Choose a teacher or online piano lessons that can help you build a strong foundation. In other words, pick a course that helps you with the basic understanding of how music works. Then you can use your ear to strengthen your understanding because the ear can converse with the mind and come to a consensus of how and why things sound the way they do.

Where do you start? Start with how chords and scales are made and use that information to formulate melody and structure. Your ear can support this process obviously but it’s the scales and chords that create the building blocks of true musical understanding.

It’s not enough to know how to play a simple F, G, C progression with melody. You need to know why and how this progression works and why it sounds the way it does. Then and only then can you begin to build on that foundation by learning richer chords, re-harmonization and more complicated melodies.

For example; F, G, C can sound so much better if you play it as Fmaj7, D-7, G7, Db7, Cmaj7. This is the same chord progression but re-harmonized to sound richer and more pleasing to the ear. How can you possibly do this if you use only your ear? For the vast majority of people who want to learn to play the piano it’s impossible. So, next time you’re thinking of learning just by ear, you might want to reconsider that plan. Why limit yourself?

Online piano lessons are becoming very popular and Paul Tobey, a professional concert pianist, offer a free piano lesson to and student wishing to participate. One piano lesson is all it takes to decide if he is the right teacher for you.

Medical insurance is a wonderful thing when you have it, but even the best medical insurance does not always cover everything. Sometimes this can be a problem. When medical bills become large due to surgeries or continued illness, the portion that you are to pay can become more than what you can afford quickly. A debt consolidation loan online can become very handy in this case.

When my son was born, he had to be in the neo-natal unit for eight days due to water in his airways and a heart murmur. While in there, he developed and was treated for jaundice. He was given several tests during his stay also. My wife and I were very lucky for two reasons. Our little guy came out just fine and is a healthy thirteen month old now, and we have great insurance. Our insurance covered the entirety of his stay. However, they did send the statement to me detailing the cost of his stay. I’m sharing this story not because I want to point out my luck but to bring home the fact that even 20% of his $25,000 hospital bill would be a pretty sizable bill to have to pay all at once. Hospitals will be willing to work with you to an extent, but they are not creditors and will not allow you to stretch your payments over a long period of time, but a debt consolidation loan online will.

A debt consolidation loan online can take an overall debt of say $5000 and instead of asking you to pay it in its entirety in a few months, you can do it in a few years. This will allow the payment to be workable for you and your budget. Within reason, a loan term can be lengthened or shortened to make the payment work within what you can spend each month. In this way, you will not be searching to find $1000 extra over the next five months, you will make reasonable monthly payments until the debt is paid off.

A few benefits to the debt consolidation loan online are that they can happen relatively quickly, you can combine other debts with them, they have lower interest rates than credit cards, and they are done in complete privacy. After researching banks, once you’ve decided which bank has the right interest rate and terms for your loan, you usually can simply go online and apply for said loan. After some communication with a loan officer, your loan will be approved and you’ll be ready to pay the debts off. This should take a matter of days, not weeks. When setting up the loan you will be able to add any credit card debt you currently have. Since the interest rate of a debt consolidation loan online is less than that of a credit card, your overall debt payments will decrease as opposed to what you were paying before which will save you money. Finally, no one other than you, your spouse, and anyone else you choose will have to know what you’re doing with your finances and why. It’s none of their business and with this loan, it stays that way.

A debt consolidation loan online can take a very trying time in your life and relieve at least some of the stress that you’re feeling. It will help you maintain control of your finances through this time. You will have peace of mind at least in the financial aspect of your life.

Discover the power of a debt consolidation loan online to effectively get your finances under control. Visit http://www.your-debt-consolidation-loan.com to find out more about how you can turn your finances around.

Staging your home for a quick sale, is as important as picking the right realtor to represent your home. It is imperative that your home appears clean,warm, and inviting. This peaks the potential buyer’s curiosity giving them the desire to see more of the house as they move from room to room. Proper staging and tasteful decor is what could make or break a deal.

Depending on the condition of your home, you may or may not have your work cut out for you. If your home is an older home, or has been neglected, it is important to make major repairs, especially to any holes in the walls, water stains on ceilings, etc. Everything that is visibly broken or extremely worn should be fixed or replaced.

Once all of the obvious problems have been remedied, take a look at your walls. Do they have hand prints, food splatter, and dirt all over them? Try wiping the walls gently with baby wipes or a warm soapy cloth . Remember to clean the doors, light switches, and trim as well. If the job is too big, or wiping doesn’t work, consider a new coat of paint in a neutral color. Nothing freshens up a house more than a new coat of paint. By choosing neutral colors, the potential buyer will feel like they have options when it comes to decorating their new home in their own style and taste, without an added expense.

Once the house has been repaired, and the walls are bright and clean, its time to declutter. People tend to feel claustrophobic or tense when a house is dirty and messy. You will want to give the appearance of spacious counters and shelves, so leave the bare minimum on dressers, desks, counters, and shelving. Dress up long tables and dressers with runners. Fresh flowers, bowls filled with fruit, river rocks, lemons and or limes are always a nice earthy touch. Be creative, anything goes, as long as it looks good.

Ample closet space is always very desirable. All closets should be neat and fresh smellling. Now is the time to get ride of anything you do not want or need. A good rule of thumb is, if you haven’t touched it in a year, you won’t miss it when it’s gone. Organize shoes by type in an organizer or on the floor. Hang all slacks together, short sleeve shirts together, etc. This will help the closet look roomy and tidy. Be sure all beds are made. Throw pillows on the bed give the room a luxurious look and feel. Night stands should have only necessities such as a clock, phone and lamp on it. A stack of two or three hard covered books are a nice touch. If the lamp is not too tall, you can set the lamp on top of the books. Everything should be picked up off of the floor. Remove any piles of “stuff” from the corners, this will only detract from the space and the whole appearance of what should be a relaxing sanctuary.

In the kitchen make sure counters are wiped clean and not cluttered with appliances, baskets, toys, etc. Again, you want to convey a spacious work environment. Appliances should be wiped clean inside and out. One never knows who will be opening them up for a little look inside.

The bathrooms should be clean, have matching towels, and clutter free counters. The commode and shower should be wiped down, especially the floor around it. Set up some candles and you will be all done in there.

Before showing your home consider have the carpets cleaned. Although it’s an easy fix, dirty carpets are a BIG turn off to potential buyers. Vacuum rugs, mop the floors, and dust the furniture as often as possible or as needed to ensure that the house comes across as being cared for. Lighting candles and spraying rugs with foam carpet spray gives the house a fresh smell prior to a buyer’s arrival.

Don’t forget about the outside. The front of your home gives off the very first impression. It’s the cover to your book. The walkway and driveway should be free of bicycles, skates, gardening tools, etc. Plant flowers to add color and curb appeal. If you can not afford to add flowers, a potted plant or two along with a nice welcome mat will do the trick. Mow the lawn, and edge as needed. Keep trees, plants, and bushes pruned. Keep the flower beds free of weeds. The same applies to the backyard.

With some time, effort, and creativity, you can make your home a show place you will be proud of.

Everyone in our society today wants everything fast. Fast food, fast shopping, get in quickly and get to our next scheduled event. That may be taking the kids to practice, to their friend’s house, to the library to study, or just getting ourselves home from work. Our society has become a very fast-paced and an immediate reward oriented place to live. We no longer have the patience nor the time to accept life and a slow pace.

Those of us who need to lose weight want to do so immediately. Let us look at how we gain the weight. It was over a long period of time with a lot of food intake, poor health habits, and lack of exercise. So how can we expect to lose the weight immediately. If we lose the weight quickly is it good for us? The answer that question is probably not.

As we diet and lose weight quickly with a low calorie count our body consumes itself. An example would be Sally has decided to lose weight. She decided to do it quickly by reducing her calorie count to 800 cal per day. The diet worked by giving her quick weight loss however the weight she loses will be 60% lean body mass. What this means is that she may well gain the weight back rapidly. You ask why? Lean body mass or muscle uses roughly 70 cal per pound while fat uses approximately 10 cal per pound. When you lose weight rapidly approximately 60% of the weight is lean body mass. So when Sally loses 10 pounds roughly 6 pounds is lean body mass which means when she resumes her normal diet she will need 420 cal less than she did previously.

Since it takes 3500 cal to gain 1 pound if Sally resumes her previous diet she will game 1 pound of weight every eight days. So her quick weight loss is soon destroyed by her previous eating habits even though that was her previous weight maintenance diet.

Instead losing weight rapidly we should be patient and lose weight over a period of time by reducing calories and increasing exercise. Increase in exercise will increase our lean body mass and in turn will increase her calorie consumption. This will help us attain and maintain our goal weight more easily and more safely.

Remember you did not gain the weight rapidly nor should you lose it rapidly. As I’ve shown above rapid weight loss may only lead to a new increase in weight back to your previous weight or greater weight. This only defeats us in attempting to attain our goal of a healthy and maintainable weight-loss.

David Snyder is an RN who is looking at the weight loss epidemic facing society.

Visit my blog at http://loseweight-dave.blogspot.com to look at more weight loss comments and to leave your comments about weight loss.

That driver cuts you off on the highway. Someone closes the elevator door just as you are about to get in and you have to either wait for the next elevator or take the stairs. Your kid takes the last piece of fish from the serving plate and you have not had your first piece of salmon. All these and other potentially stressful situations need to be addressed so your diabetes does not get worse.

It’s how we act when these situations show up. It is not the situations that make us stressful. For some of us some situations are easy for us to deal with and those same incidents drive others crazy. Yet we get all tensed up with some stuff that your best friend finds amusing.

Why it’s bad to have more stress if you are a diabetic?

Stress provides a deep blow to the body. When we become stressful because of either a good situation like your daughter just got a scholarship to college or a bad situation like your contractor will be four days late laying the patio our bodies react the same way. Because we are either fearful or anxious our hormones wake up. Then extra sugar is released into your blood stream for the energy that is needed to address the issue or event. More sugar in the blood stream is not the best thing for a diabetic.

Being aware of these or similar stressful situations is the first step.

You cannot do anything about these events unless you are aware of them. That is the first step. Awareness. You can start asking yourself questions like what can you differently when stressful situations begin to come forward. Knowing what some of these stressful situations are for you is a key component to handling them. What may be tense for you may not be tense for others. So know your stressful self.

Now that you are aware of some of your stressful situations what do you do next?

Creating stress relaxers will help you ease the situations as they come up. Have your arsenal ready to go when a situation arises. Let’s say you get very tense when you hit some traffic and have to be somewhere at a specific time. The facts are this. You cannot move as quickly as you would like and some people are depending on you to be somewhere. You can call them address your lateness. But what can you do about moving so slowly. Look for alternative routes and if that does not work, find some relaxation techniques that will not drive your hormones crazy. Think about good times you had on some vacations, or happy times you spent with your loved ones. Do something that will give you freedom from the situation. Because you cannot do anything about the traffic anyway. Why not enjoy it? You and your diabetes will be better for it.

You may need to practice these new methods for a while until they become natural for you. Keep yourself open to new actions will be part of the relaxation process. Reducing your stress hormones is a key to reduced blood sugar. Stay on course.

Relaxation techniques will help you ease your diabetes. They are a part of a complete diabetes natural solutions care program. Go grab your free e course about creating a all-inclusive diabetes program for yourself.

Resource Health A-Z

Aron Wallad lowered his blood sugar by over 50 % and regained energy using some easy to use diabetes natural solutions. Grab your free ecourse about diabetes. Go here right now http://www.diabetesnaturalsolutions.com

It seems that you cannot pick up a magazine, newspaper or read your e-mails without some mention of stress and what the effects are on the human body. Having had a heart attack last year I find some of these articles disturbing and confusing. There are conflicting opinions and information. What seemed to be good information last month has changed and now is disputed by one doctor or another, scientific studies and numerous reports.

They talk about the good and bad levels of cholesterol, the effects of hormone replacement therapy and even if you should drink alcohol, caffeine in pop or coffee to aid in the prevention or recovery from a heart attack.Then there is talk of your diet, exercise and over the counter medications.

I am worn out and stressed just wondering what I should and should not do to help myself live a healthier lifestyle.We all know the obvious triggers that can get a person in trouble with their own body. After all, as I have said in the beginning of this article, we get lots of information from all sources and in all forms.What to make of all this information is very stress producing for someone who is working on doing the best for themselves.

It was even suggested to me that I should give up television and not read magazines.I certainly disagree with that for many reasons and I am sure we all have our own opinion on that topic.We could have a stimulating debate on the subject I am sure.

With all the anxiety producing events and situations in life I was not in the mood to hear the news that I may not be doing enough to keep my body in balance and in its best condition.As I think of what I should be doing to help myself I realize I can do the best I can with the information I have and I think for me I have chosen to get involved in ways to eliminate anxiety by finding comfort in knowledge and the retraining of the way I think about life and how I want to spend the rest of it.

We take bits and pieces from all we have learned and apply it to ourselves.Searching and seeking out programs or techniques that suit our individual needs is a good starting point.Talking to our support groups and family and friends helps, as well as perhaps taking the spiritual road.

Stress will always be a part of the larger world.We can bring peace and recovery to our own piece of the world and if all the anxiety sufferers find a place of calmness within themselves I believe that calmness will radiate out and others will receive the benefits of our work in eliminating anxiety.

“For 40 years, 7 months, 4 days and 3.9 hours I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks - especially after my heart attack on August 12th, 5:00am EST 2006. As a result of my suffering, I decided I would go on a crusade to reveal the most powerful, most effective and most successful system for living an Anxiety and Panic Free Life.” - Lorraine Roach, Founder AnxietyEnded.com Visit: http://www.anxietyended.com to discover what 99.2% of ALL anxiety and panic sufferers do wrong, and how to make sure YOU avoid it.

Well it is that time of year again, you are a little pale and the spare tire is a little bit bigger than it was in the fall and now you want to lose some weight and look better in those skin showing summer clothes. What you need is a plan and a bit of a change in schedule.

Here is a simple list of things that you can do starting today to make sure that you are buff and ready as the summer and summer activities come in a couple of months.

Eat Smarter – The key to a healthy diet plan is to eat smarter than before. Over the winter you may have been eating a little badly, keeping on track but cheating. Now is the time to start eating in a very structured and focused way. No matter how you have been eating you must now start eating every couple or three hours. Really this just means toad snacks, good for you snacks. Let’s say that you eat breakfast at 8, lunch at 12, dinner at 6. Now all you have to do is add snacks (really just smaller meals) at 10 am, 3 pm and 8 pm. Now you must be wondering, what you should be eating. The next important thing is to be sure to eat smaller meals and small snacks. The idea of eating so often is that your body will be better able to use the food that you are eating and a side effect of this is that it will raise your metabolism.

Raise the protein, drop the carbohydrates – What you eat is the next thing that is important. You should get a good idea of what is a carb based food and what is a protein based food and we all know what is fatty and these high fat foods should be avoided when you are trying to lose weight. I said that you need to eat small meals but most importantly you need to make sure that you have lots of protein and less carbohydrates than you are used to. This may be initially harder than you expect but in the end this adjustment will pay great dividends in having a healthy diet plan for summer.

Stay hydrated when you exercise and when you don’t – When you are working out you will want to of course drink water and sports drinks so that you can keep not only your liquids up but the magic of sports drinks like Gatorade is that they bring back the electrolytes that you are losing by sweating. Getting dehydrated will drop your energy and in the end will stop your body from functioning normally.

These steps to a healthy diet plan will make a big difference this spring and summer to make you healthier and more fit.

Bill Nadraszky is passionate about health and fitness. Do you really want to make great changes? Then sign for for a FREE 21 day life changing email course on all aspects of better health at the Fitness weblog or read my healthy diet plan review.

Many pet owners are thinking about feeding their dog or cat a homemade diet. This can be for numerous reasons, whether they are concerned about the safety of commercial pet food or they simply want to offer their pet a variety at mealtime.

Feeding a homemade diet is only for the most dedicated of pet owners. Some people say that cooking for your pet is a “no-brainer”. Other people say that cooking for your pet is a very complicated and labor-intensive process.

No matter who you listen to, there’s some important factors to take into consideration before embarking on this path. Here are a few questions to ask yourself before getting started.

Am I willing to invest the time and money necessary to prepare my pet’s meals?

The bottom line is: cooking for your pet requires more time and money on your part. Think about how much time and money you spend preparing meals for yourself and your human family. Are you willing to do this for your pet too?

Careful consideration must be made when selecting recipes, shopping for ingredients, and choosing supplements. It’s not as easy as searching online for a recipe. The majority of recipes you find for free on the Internet are inadequate when fed for long periods of time and are not formulated by someone trained in veterinary nutrition.

A pet owner should only consider recipes that have been formulated and balanced by veterinarians trained specifically in the field of animal nutrition. Spending a little extra money to have recipes formulated for your pet’s unique nutritional requirements is beneficial and provides peace of mind.

A group of veterinarians at http://www.petdiets.com offer such a service.

Do I understand that if for some reason I’m no longer able to prepare my pet’s meals that he will have a difficult time switching back to commercial pet food?

Donald Strombeck, DVM, PhD, author of Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets—The Healthful Alternative, states that many pets develop an intolerance for commercial pet food after being fed a home-prepared diet.

Am I willing to make additional visits to the veterinarian to ensure that my pet remains in good health?

Pets that eat a homemade diet should be brought in for regular veterinary exams at least two to three times per year to ensure they are not experiencing any nutrient deficiencies or excesses. These visits may involve the cost of routine blood and urine tests or x-rays.

Am I willing to accept the risks involved in feeding my pet a homemade diet?

There are potential short-term and long-term risks involved with feeding pets a homemade diet, especially if the owner decides to omit ingredients that supply the pet with essential levels of vitamins and minerals. Clinical signs may not occur until the pet has been fed the inadequate diet for an extended period of time—several months or in some cases several years later.

Remember that certain table scraps should never be feed to pets. Gravy, meat fats, and poultry skin can cause serious digestive upset. There is also the potential for pancreatitis, a life-threatening disease, to occur. Bones can also splinter when chewed and have the potential to cause intestinal blockages and perforations.

Other ingredients that should not be fed to pets include chocolate, raisins, grapes, onions, garlic, avocados, coffee, macadamia nuts, salt, tea leaves, raw yeast dough, and xylitol, a common sweetener found in baked goods, gum and candy.

Who will prepare meals for my pet should I become ill or go on vacation?

Pet owners should instruct a friend or family member on how to properly prepare the pet’s diets.

Many pets do very well eating homemade pet food, and some do not. But then again, the same can be said for commercial pet food. Owners who are considering feeding their pet a homemade diet should always consider the validity and nutritional training of those recommending a particular diet or recipe.

If you’re certain you want to cook for your pet, consult first with your veterinarian and do plenty of research on the topic, both online and offline.

Amanda K. Jones is a licensed veterinary technician and e-book author. She has had several articles published in professional veterinary journals and is a Tails, Inc. Magazine Furry Forum Expert.

If you’re a pet owner interested in feeding your pet a homemade diet or are looking for more information on basic pet food nutrition, you may be interested in Amanda’s FREE 8-Week Course on Dog and Cat Nutrition.

For more information or to sign-up please visit http://www.petfoodbible.com

According to an old saying, “When poverty comes in the window, love flies out the door.” Modern divorce statistics would seem to support this with about half of all divorces being the result of financial stress largely as a result of debt. Yet, much of this stress could be alleviated by combining all non-mortgage debts into one loan with a low debt consolidation loan rate. How many people would still be married if they had taken this simple but vital step?

If you are making monthly payments on a number of credit cards and loans, you are probably feeling the pinch. Whenever interest rates or fees and charges rise, you are squeezed a bit more. So much money can be going out on debt payments, there is little left over for basic living expenses, let alone savings and investments. Debt consolidation with the lowest debt consolidation loan rate available to you, can not only free up a decent chunk of monthly income, it can set a time limit on your indebtedness and give you hope for the future. It will also save you thousands of dollars over the term of the loan. If that money went into savings instead of interest charges, what would that mean for your financial future?

If you have equity in your own home, a home equity loan will probably give you the best debt consolidation loan rate. However, you need to be very careful to make all payments by the due date because if you default on the loan, you lender has legal right to foreclose. In other words, you risk losing your home.

A personal loan (secured or unsecured) will give you the next best debt consolidation loan rate. If you have a good credit history and adequate income, you should have no problem applying for an unsecured personal loan. This is obviously better than a secured loan because your assets are not placed at risk. Personal loans tend to be the most popular debt consolidation solutions.

Both home equity loans and personal loans offer fixed terms which provides the added benefit of providing a definite end to the debt. At the end of the loan term, if you make all the payments, you will be debt free. Along with offering immediate relief, fixed term loans also offer an injection of hope that all debt burden will be lifted in a certain period of time.

For permanent relief from financial stress, it is recommended that borrowers also cancel all current credit cards and lines of credit once the balances are paid out to avoid the possibility of increasing debt again in the future.

For this reason it is also advisable not to use low rate credit cards or lines of credit to consolidate debts unless you need to cover a significant and urgent expense that is likely to require a series of payments. Even though these forms of credit may offer a low debt consolidation loan rate, there is a very real risk that you will be unable to lower the balance and you will remain in debt. A fixed term loan will ensure you will be debt free at the end of the term.

There are many loan products available through different lenders which offer a low debt consolidation loan rate. By consolidating your debts into one of these loans you will experience immediate financial relief, and so will the rest of your family. The long term benefits will be even more profound, strengthening your financial position and protecting your family from the fall-out from debt related stress.

Discover the power of a low debt consolidation loan rate to effectively get your finances under control. Visit http://www.your-debt-consolidation-loan.com to find out more about how you can turn your finances around.

Debutants Bermuda were at the receiving end of the highest ever total amassed in the history of the World Cup when they faced India in a Group B match on March 19. Lambs in a slaughterhouse would be an apt representation.

What it also indicates is the fact that the 2007 World Cup so far has thrown up some of the biggest aggregate scores, and half way through in the tournament the numbers are rising steadily.

This is a signal that in World Cup 2007 the average scores will be highest from the previous nine World Cup’s played till now.

In this World Cup till now 37 matches have been played and 13 times more than 300 have been scored, with 14 matches still to be played.

Here’s the most interesting thing is that the big scores smashed by one team were not chased by the opposite team and further the team smashing biggest scores wont loose its all batsman in its innings hitting big scores.

In the match against Bermuda, India went on to score 413/6 in 50 overs surpassing Sri Lanka’s 398/5 in the 1996 Wills World Cup against Kenya.
India also recorded the highest margin of victory in terms of runs in the same match defeating Bermuda by 257 runs.

Also Australia have gone past the 300-run mark thrice in this World Cup till now.
With the batsmen finding the small Caribbean grounds to their liking, teams can also break the record of the highest total in an ODI, which stands in Sri Lanka’s name. The Lankans had scored 443 against the Netherlands at the VRA Ground, Amstelveen in March 2006.
May be this World Cup will see a score in excess of 500 runs in one innings and a batsman going on to hit double century too.

The 2007 World Cup can truly be called a batsman’s tournament seeing the big scores that have been put up on the board.

It is expected that in this World cup batting will show those superb performances with new records, which had never be seen earlier in any World cup. Along with this World cup 2007 will become the history World cup with new and big records by bat, one most important reason to support it is that new grounds in the West Indies are smaller and it will be a nice opportunity for the batsmen to show their big hitting skills.

While big hitters like Mathew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Sanath Jayasuriya, Brain Lara, Chris Gayle, Jacob Oram etc are still there but some big names like Sachin Tendulkar, Virendar Sehwag and Yousuf Yohana have missed a golden opportunity to show their batting skills as their teams were not able to qualify for Super Eights.

In the World cup 2007, there are associate teams like Bermuda, Scotland, Ireland and Canada so everybody wants the top teams to play first so that one can see big scores.
Definitely playing against associate teams is a nice opportunity for the top eight teams to make big scores beating old records.

With the change in the definition of ODI’s, organisers have also changed the pitches that are now overwhelmingly in favour of the batsmen with small boundaries also helping them.
But while the small grounds have been a boon for the batsmen, the connoisseurs of the game lament the lack of an even contest between the bat and the ball.

On the other hand, spectators have also lost interest in the so-called even contest as they want to watch the batsman smashing the ball out of the ground at regular intervals.
The 1999 World Cup saw 300+ score only thrice but the 2003 edition saw teams crossing the 300-run mark nine times and the 2007 World Cup has already seen 300+ scores 12 times.

The fourth World Cup that was hosted jointly by India and Pakistan in 1987-88 saw an average score of 232 and in 2002-03 World cup average scores were reduced to 200 in 50 over matches, the reason being is that match was held in Australia with big grounds and the well bouncing and swinging pitches.

In World cup 1991-92 average scores per innings were decreased to 199 because it was the first WC tournament, which was played with white ball and most of the players go wrong while playing with white ball instead playing with red ball.

But in World cup 2007 highest average scores are expected to be smashed this time. Surprising thing is that in the first 3 world cups, whether matches were of 60 overs still not in a single world cup average score was reached to 225.

How many new records World Cup 2007 will add in favour of batsmen will finally come in front after 28th April, the final match of the World Cup.

3 YEARS EXPERIENCED IN PRINT JOURNALISM, DID INTERNSHIP WITH CNN-IBN NEWSCHANNEL..LOVE TO WRITE IN SPORTS..ITS ALL RESEARCH WORK