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That's called "cross-staff beaming" and is frequently used in piano music. Noteflight doesn't support this but MuseScore does. See here for documentation.

To be fair, Knopfler is singing in the voice of a caricature — a guy who delivers appliances for a hardware store. Here's what Knopfler said about it himself (in Written in My Soul):

> The lead character in “Money for Nothing” is a guy who works in the hardware department in a television/custom kitchen/refrigerator/microwave appliance store. He’s singing the song. I wrote the song when I was actually in the store. I borrowed a bit of paper and started to write the song down in the store. I wanted to use a lot of the language that the real guy actually used when I heard him, because it was more real. It just went better with the song, it was more muscular.

Criticizing Knopfler for putting those words in this character's mouth is similar to criticizing Quentin Tarantino for saying "dead n****r storage" in Pulp Fiction, which people also do.

I guess the bigger question is, can writers (of songs, films, plays, novels, etc.) get away with depicting people who do things many of us find unacceptable?

How much are you looking to spend? Even the less expensive electronic drum sets (Alesis, Simmons) are a few hundred bucks. I don't know if they're any good or not. Roland is the gold standard but they're like $2k. If you don't care whether it's actually a drum set form factor, you can get relatively inexpensive pads like this Donner, but they don't really feel like playing drums: https://www.amazon.com/Donner-Electronic-Christmas-Instrument-DED-20/dp/B0B8S6MDD4/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=3EQIZ29YE3K2V&keywords=drum+pad+electronic&qid=1671307181&sprefix=Drum+pad+%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-3&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50...

My little girl is getting a practice pad like this for the holidays: https://www.amazon.com/RealFeel-Evans-Practice-Pad-Inch/dp/B000FT9ZIE/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=A6S2C4R5PCNP&keywords=drum+practice+pad&qid=1671307277&sprefix=drum+p%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-4

Generally, I think drummers should start out on snare, and that's usually how the pedagogy goes in my experience. This is a way to have the feel without a ton of noise (and a ton of expense). I'm pairing it with sticks and an elementary drum method book.

A DJ mixer isn't what you want — those are for combining separate external sound sources like turntables. A sample pad, which a DJ might use with a mixer, does the kind of stuff you want, but doesn't usually have a speaker.

Do you care what sounds it makes? There are some inexpensive drum pads that might suit, like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Ivation-Portable-Electronic-Drum-Pad/dp/B07J2MZ1SN

Obviously this person has a sense of humor so a Kazoo is funny and cheap... so i mean i say go for that. But it really doesnt sound like a whistle. If light heartedness is the idea and you need a whistle sound.. pick up some cheap slide whistles too. A quick look says Amazon has 6 for $20. https://www.amazon.com/Whistle-Instrument-Birthday-Educational-Supplies/dp/B09J8Q35TT/ref=sr_1_12?crid=16VIMI9IZNCVM&keywords=slide+whistles&qid=1651241538&sprefix=slide+whistles%2Caps%2C116&sr=8-12

I don’t play it myself, but looking at the design, I think it’s like a mix between a flute and a recorder, so I think it would be a good starter instrument. Plus, it’s not expensive, unlike 50,000 dollar Steinways. I’d recommend a C Major scale one, like this one https://www.amazon.com/Maharaja-Musicals-Accurately-Recommended-Professional/dp/B00IL6PHQ2 because C Major is the easiest on most instruments.

Maybe I could even try to teach you (for free :D) if I can understand how the notes are played, because lessons for any instrument are expensive.

Maybe if you want, you could also try the recorder as a secondary instrument, they’re (usually) extremely cheap, usually less than 20 dollars, and likely even easier than the Bansuri. Though Bansuri would be more of a flex ;)

this is how an actual funtional flute must look like, as you can see, yours is missing the keys

https://www.amazon.com/YAMAHA-YFL-221P-Yamaha-YFL-221-Student/dp/B0002F7LXC

Because you're not looking hard enough.

No but seriously, it's mostly likely because 21 key kalimbas are among the larger ones and the company that produces them decided to make a different hole. Not sure why the shape of the hole matters so much.

One quick search on amazon

Sounds good! Also, since I want stereo sound, what if i bought two ip300s (no subwoofer), instead of two ip2000s. Link for the turbosound ip300: https://www.amazon.com/TURBOSOUND-IP300-iNSPIRE-iP300/dp/B079LQLNFH/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=turbosound&qid=1556915773&s=gateway&sr=8-2

This way would be cheaper, but perhaps the lack of a subwoofer take too much away from the intended sound? Otherwise, maybe some regular loudspeakers (not columns) would be more affordable.

I had no idea what a "Seaboard Block" was and had to look it up, but I wouldn't recommend something like that as your first and only piano analogue. The tactile sensation looks completely different and it has an extremely limited number of keys, which would make playing anything other than melodies or simple chords nearly impossible. If you have access to a computer with a DAW, I'd suggest getting a USB keyboard instead. I have one very similar to this one from M-Audio, which is much cheaper and will probably be better suited to what you want to do with it.

Simply my opinion but I have used one similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-802-Premium-8-Input-Preamps/dp/B000J5XS3C

for years and it's been great. Just as you can see there, only one Headphone out, so you need some amp to power multiple headphones.

Well...point being don't overcomplicate it I guess. There are many good books about writing lyrics, definitely read one. It will at least give you all the mechanics of writing and good tips on writing in general.

This is one of the ones I have read that I found really helpful: http://www.amazon.com/How-To-Write-Songs-Guitar/dp/0879309423

Second if you are writing in a group it's exponentially more difficult than alone. For one thing it's hard to communicate a full vision for lyrics or a song until some sort of tipping point. Actually this is true of anything creative, so it might be better, if you are in a group to get at least a bit written ahead of time before collaborating. Also you absolutely need to just say upfront, this is gonna be corny and awkward as hell. In fact writing parody or joke songs is so easy cause you are detached from the emotion of it a bit. In real lyrics I suppose this isn't the case and so if you think of something you think is great others may not agree and feelings get hurt. Gotta get over this quick or you will get nowhere fast.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional musician, I have no songs written that are even worth sharing but I do collaborate with people creatively a lot. I have done a lot of improvised jams with lyrics and stuff to try and write but I should say that probably any professionals opinion would be better than mine.

It doesn't look like you can with the receiver you linked to earlier but I believe some receivers have an aux line. You could always buy this type of converter cable though.

I was thinking of this- would it work?

http://www.amazon.com/Sherwood-RX-4109-Stereo-Receiver-Black/dp/B000MBUSD6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1423072171&sr=1-1&keywords=stereo+receiver+with+phono+input