My musical abilities are on par with my ability to dance, that is to say that I have the musical equivalent of having two left feet.

My lack of tuneful talent has not kept me from trying, however, much to the chagrin of those around me, but I learned to keep my warbling to myself as much as possible. Still, every so often I feel compelled to sing. Loudly.

I don't know why I get these impulses. Maybe it's from watching The Wizard of Oz and Westside Story a few too many times when I was a kid. (I watched The Wizard of Oz because of the Flying Monkeys, and Westside Story because of Natalie Wood.) In those shows people were going along, minding their business when suddenly singing and dancing erupts, and it didn't seem like a bad way to live.

So, since childhood, whenever the mood strikes (thankfully it doesn't strike often), I will start to sing or dance. If I'm in an especially good mood, I'll do both.

You'd think that by now I would be somewhat accomplished at singing and dancing. You'd be wrong, and while I still enjoy what little I do, I'd love to learn to dance and sing better.

Dancing is the tough one because traditionally you'd have to go someplace and take lessons, and you have to have a partner. I took dancing lessons once and it was a lot of fun. (Guys, let me tell you: women LOVE guys that can dance, even just a little.)

The problem is that few people want to look foolish in public while attempting to learn to dance. I don't suffer from this affliction; I'm used to looking foolish in public, but I can understand why others might not want to. Luckily for you there's a way to learn to dance that is both private and fun.

And it's free!!!!!

The Ballroom Dance Channel (I didn't know there was a Ballroom Dance Channel) offers iPhone/iPod touch apps for several popular dances, and they are kinda cool. The apps offer easy to access demos and the lessons are movie-based and show both the male and female positions and steps. You can use the movie controls of your iPhone to move forward or back to sections of the video lessons.

I like that the lessons are provided by top notch instructors and that they go through the basics slowly so you can watch where to put you hands and how the body moves, which is very important. Just stepping through the dance stiffly does make you look foolish, so loosen up and swing those hips.

Great exercise, and it's bound to turn you into a sexy dancing beast. And it's free! What's not to love?

There are Salsa, Samba, Tango, Rumba, and Waltz lessons. Grab one that strikes your fancy and learn to dance.

OK, so maybe the Ballroom Dance Channel apps got you through the basics of Salsa and you are hooked. Now you want to learn more, but you are still reluctant to flaunt your emerging abilities in public. I get that.

You might want to take a look at Learn to Dance New York Salsa video podcasts.

What's interesting about this podcast is that it's produced by regular people, and that can make a difference if you are wondering why your movements look so primitive when compared to the pros. The pros dance all the time so their bodies are tuned to move like they do whereas our bodies are tuned to sitting on the couch and watching the pros.

Regular folks can New York Salsa too!

It takes a bit of practice to get from couch to looking respectable on the dance floor and the New York Salsa videos do a great job in breaking it all down so you can practice even the smallest movements.

There are 13 lessons available from the iTunes Store. Get them all and soon you'll be shaking and strutting to a spicy salsa beat.

Go you!

So I've taken care of the dancing, now how about the singing.

There's only one thing more aggravating than someone singing a popular song and getting the words wrong, and that's someone singing a popular song and getting the words wrong AND sounding like a distressed cat.

Sorry, I can't help you with the distressed cat part. If you can't carry a tune even if it was handed to you in a bucket then there's not a lot anyone can do that doesn't involve private lessons. Voice training requires constant feedback from an instructor, and instructors usually want money.

If you think your singing abilities are passable, however, then I can offer you this: the words to most any song.

Enter Lyrical.

Let's say you are playing Full Moon by The Black Ghosts and you love the song so much that you want to sing along. While the song is playing just fire up Lyrical and budda-bing, the lyrics appear.

Sweet!

What's even cooler is that you don't even have to know the name of the song or the artist to find lyrics, if you can recall a few words from the song Lyrical will go out and search for you to find the song you want and list them.

And the cost of all of this lyrical goodness is zero dollars. This one's a keeper folks.

OK, that's a wrap for this week.

Stop by next week for more Free on iTunes stuff.

More free stuff below with direct links.

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.