Author: musicalitywrld

Do we really need such a thing? With so much popular music based in three or four chords, there’s really no end to the scads of songs we can comfortably learn with just a few chords. If you’re familiar with the Roman Numeral system, common chord progressions such as I-IV-V or I-V-vi-IV are everywhere.

However, there’s always that one song with a few extra chords. Where resolution is more complex. Where the chord progression takes you on a roundabout journey back to the tonic, rather than going for the obvious.

Listen to the Beatles’ “Hey Jude”:

As you can see, there’s a bit more going on here than just the standard three chords. At the end of the line “Then you begin to make it better”, a seventh chord appears to contribute a “build” before the chorus. This is a secondary dominant, spotted in the wild!

The secondary dominant adds interest and emotion by resolving to the dominant chord of any chord that is not the tonic. This creates the musical illusion of moving to a new key. It is especially popular in jazz music and was even used in traditional classical music. Songwriters in rock and jazz music today use the secondary dominants to add a little bit of gravity, interest, and nuance to their writing. You can find secondary dominants scattered across popular music.

So what is a secondary dominant, and how does it relate to the dominant? How are secondary dominants used in music, and how can you apply them to create this sought-after tension and release in your own music?

What is Dominant Function?

In music, harmonic function describes the mood that certain chords and chord movements lend to music. Typically, in popular and classical music, the songwriter or composer tries to resolve to the dominant or tonic of a key.

The V chord is called the dominant chord. If you need to brush up on common chord progressions and chords, check out these great resources:

• What is Chord Ear Training?
• Chord Training How-to: Chord Progressions
• Chord Progressions Ear Training Exercises
• Theory Review for Dominant Chords – Jazz Guitar Lessons

Dominant function refers to the feeling that the dominant chord of a key brings to music – that of instability and a drive to resolve to the tonic. Dominant function keeps the chord train going in one direction – towards the tonic of the key. This brings about a release to the tension created.

This release can be created through a cadence. A cadence is a chord progression ending a section of a piece or a short phrase. We often refer to the term chord progressions, as well.

In popular music, the chord progressions often end in a very simple cadence called the perfect cadence, or more familiarly, a chord progression ending in V-I. Phamox Music provides a fantastic summary of commonly-encountered cadences and how they contribute to resolution.

A chord progression ending in V-I is the easiest way to resolve almost any progression satisfactorily to the listener. Other chords like IV or vi may be used (or their corollaries in minor keys), but in the end the vast majority of music that you hear on the radio will resolve to I. This is basic Western harmony.

For example, in the key of C Major, most chord progressions will resolve in I (the C major chord) or V (the G major chord). You can hear this over and over again in most of your favorite tunes.

In this video you will hear twelve chord progressions common in pop music, classical music, rock, and jazz. Notice how many of these chord progressions resolve tension by moving to I. Even if there are other chords between V and I, tension will be resolved through traditional harmonic function:

Here are twelve very popular chord progressions:

• I – V – vi – IV
• vi – V – IV – V
• I – vi – IV – V
• I – IV – vi – V
• I – V – IV – V
• vi6 – ii – V6 – I
• I – vi / IV – ii – V
• vi – IV – I – V
• i – VI – III – VII
• I – IV – ii – V
• vi – V – IV – iii
• I – V – vi – iii – IV – I – IV – V

Notice how each will resolve to I (the tonic) or V (the dominant).

The Secondary Dominant

But what if we told you that technically speaking, there is more than one dominant in each key?

Wait, what?!

Um… how?

Well, every scale degree of key has a dominant of its very own… making for a total of seven possible dominants in every major key.

We have a special name for this – it’s called the secondary dominant, and it can be described as the dominant 7th chord of a non-tonic chord in a key.

So what is a secondary dominant? And how does it function in a song?

Well, sometimes you want to add a little interest to your music. You can find secondary dominants in almost all musical genres, but you run into them most in jazz music (check out LearnJazzStandards’s podcast episode on secondary dominants in jazz), classical music, and even film music.

Let’s take a moment to listen to “Hey Jude” by the Beatles again:

You can hear the secondary dominant function at the end of the line “Then you begin to make it better.” There is a slight build there that resolves on the first beat of the chorus. Listen to that section a few times and listen for the chord progressions underneath the verse.  

Finding Your Way Home

If you understand that chord progressions essentially are just trying to get back to the tonic of the chord, much like an Uber driver trying to find your house in an unfamiliar neighborhood, then you can understand the concept of Secondary Dominants.

A secondary dominant is like the Uber driver that makes a couple of stops before eventually finding your house. Like going to a different house on the same street. So they are close, but not quite there. Then they eventually find the right address – and voila! – they are at your door, or rather, the tonic.

For example, in the key of C, the G Major Chord is the Dominant Chord. Listen to this example. You will hear the C Scale, then the chord progression C-G-C-G-C. Listen to how G resolves to C, creating balance and resolution.

Building up from there, we find out that we can use the D7 chord as a Secondary Dominant built on G. The D7 is built: D-F#-A-C.

In this example, you will hear C-G-D7-D7 (Arpeggiated)-D7. Listen for the intervals and distinct sound of the D7 in this context. Notice how it creates tension and is unresolved.

If you notice, the F# and the C create an augmented fourth. This is called a tritone.  Listen to the D7 Chord, then the tritone. Notice how the tritone creates harmonic tension:

The tritone naturally wants to resolve. The F# of the secondary dominant D7 chord resolves up to the G in the dominant chord. The C of the secondary dominant D7 chord resolves down to the B in the dominant chord, landing on the G Major Chord in C Major. Listen to the resolution of the tritone. First you will hear the tritone resolve, then you will hear D7 resolve to G:

Now we are temporarily in G. At this point we can modulate (or change keys) into the key of G, or move back to C Major for the final resolution. For more info, The Jazz Piano Site details the concept of modulation and shows you simple ways to modulate.

Using the Circle of Fifths to Find Secondary Dominants

Things can get a little bit confusing when you’re dealing with dominants of dominants, so a great tool to have is a visual aid.

We can understand secondary dominants by using the Circle of Fifths. The Circle of Fifths is a tool that is essentially built up by starting on C, then moving up progressively by fifths until you end up back at the beginning at C again. The key signatures are made into a wheel. This is an incredibly valuable tool for musicians:

You can use the Circle of Fifths to find Secondary Dominants. Just travel around the circle to find the dominant of a note. For example, following the progression above, you know that E is the dominant of A, which is the dominant of D. This means that E7 can be a Secondary Dominant in the key of D Major. The E7 will resolve to A, which is the dominant chord in the key of D Major. Let’s practice using the Circle of Fifths.

Circle of Fifths Exercise

Looking at the Circle of Fifths, answer the questions below.

1. What is the dominant Chord in the key of A?

2. What is the dominant Chord in the key of G Flat?

3. What note is a fifth above G?

4. What note is a fifth below A Flat?

The Secondary Dominant in Music

Once you open your ears to secondary dominants, they emerge in many corners of music. We will first listen to a secondary dominant chord progression in isolation, then examine it in the context of some popular songs, and then try our hand at identifying them within pieces of music.

Hearing Secondary Dominants

Let’s start off by listening to some basic chord progressions using secondary dominants. Try to listen to how the chord progressions provide some release from the tension created. Listen for augmented chords (tritones), and how they resolve to the dominant.

Example 1: C-E7-Am

Listen to the resolution of this Secondary Dominant chord.

Example 2: C-C7-F

Listen to this common chord progression using the Secondary Dominant.

Example 3: C-Am-B7-C

Notice the different use of the Secondary Dominant in this chord progression. Notice the unique musical color of this resolution.

Hearing Secondary Dominants in Music

Listening for the Secondary Dominant seems difficult because it has a somewhat familiar function to other popular chord progressions. However, there are a few key things to listen for to help you truly hear the secondary dominant.

1. Listen for a buildup of tension in a song

2. Listen for 7th chords

3. Did you hear a tritone resolving?

4. When the buildup releases, does it land on the tonic or on another note?

5. After the release, does the song seem to have modulated to a new key or sounds like it has landed on a new tonic temporarily?

6. Does the resolution seem less satisfying?

7. Does the song return to the original key?

An important term to know is tonicization. What is tonicization? It is creating the sound of a new tonic within a song. The new chord functions as the new tonic in the scale. For example, if the original song is in the key of F but ends up sounding like it moved to the key of C temporarily, that is tonicization. C is not the tonic of the song. The tonic is F. But because of the chord progressions, possibly the use of a secondary dominant, the song temporarily sounds like it has moved to a new key.

You will find secondary dominants in the music of the Beatles, Queen, Billy Joel, Bruno Mars, and Leonard Cohen.

Here is an example of the Secondary Dominant in the “Easy Come, Easy Go” segment from Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” at [0:32]:

Follow the Chords in “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen to hear the use of the secondary dominant. Can you hear the tension and release created by the progression G-E7-Am? Listen to this section a few times to really intone the unique sound of the Secondary Dominant:

Identifying Secondary Dominants

Before you start working on these exercises, take the time to play out some of the secondary dominant chord progressions from earlier in this article on an instrument. Learn how to really hear the unique chord quality created by the tritone, the 7th, and the resolution of the chord. By listening for this chord function over and over again and playing it on an instrument, you will find it much easier to really hear the secondary dominant in the examples below.

Exercise 1: Identify the Secondary Dominant

Below are some simple chord progressions. Listen to each example carefully, then decide which example has the secondary dominant. Be sure to listen for how the chord progressions resolve in terms of tension, release, and tonicization.

Exercise 2: Listen for Secondary Dominants in Music

Now it’s time to see if you can recognize the secondary dominant in a musical example. Below is a short musical example with rhythm section. Listen to the chord progressions carefully. Did you hear the secondary dominant? Where was it?

Exercise 3: Jam Time with Secondary Dominants

Pull out your instrument and take a moment to jam out with this old-time Charleston backing track that uses secondary dominants. If you are a singer, then vocalize with the track. Can you hear how the 7th chords function as secondary dominants?

How to Use Secondary Dominants in Songwriting

When songwriting, composing, or jamming with your band, use secondary dominants to add a little bit of tension in a uniquely colorful way. Need to modulate to a new key? Use a Secondary Dominant to help you get there using dominant function.

Need to create some tension? Use a secondary dominant for an intriguing buildup. Secondary dominants are a popular feature in dramatic soundtracks in film.

In this example, the soundtrack starts with simple movement between I and V, or Em and Am. Then, it moves into a more complex chord progression using the secondary dominant. Notice that while the section using Em and Am resolves, it is very repetitive and boring, almost like it’s standing in place.

Give it a listen. A simple breakdown of the track is below.

Breakdown:

00:00 Synth Intro
00:02 Em-Am-Em-Am
00:14 Em-A7-Am-D7-G7-Em
00:32 Em-A-Em-A
00:41 Em-A7-Am-D7-G7-Em
00:54 Em Outro

Songwriting Practice

In this exercise you will experiment with the secondary dominant Chord. You can write an instrumental section or write for vocals using a lead sheet. If you aren’t great at writing out music, just jot down the chords while sitting at a piano or using a guitar. The point isn’t writing out sheet music, but to learn how to use the Secondary Dominant in your songwriting.

1. Write a short 16-measure tune in a pop or rock style using only the I, ii, IV, V, and vi chords in a major scale (lyrics are optional!)

2. Play through the tune several times

3. Listen for natural tension and release in the harmony

4. Now replace at least two chords with a secondary dominant chord progression in that key (these can be at the end of a phrase or verse, or as a transition)

5. Play through your new chord progression

6. Experiment with moving the secondary dominant throughout the song

7. Now replace four to eight chords with a secondary dominant chord progression

Bonus: If you feel like you are getting the hang of writing with secondary dominants, try to modulate to a new key using the secondary dominant. Instead of moving back to the original tonic of your tune, stay in the new established key. If you want to add even more flavour to your creation, try experimenting with altering dominant 7th chords, as described by Davide Pannozzo.

Once you are comfortable adding in secondary dominants into your writing, share your new creations with your friends and jam through them. Practice improvising and experimenting with harmony.

Further Exploration of the Secondary Dominant

Now that you’re acquainted with the secondary dominant, you can practice hearing and using this harmonic function in music. Don’t worry if it takes a few times listening to the examples in this article to truly “hear” the function and tone color of the Secondary Dominant.

To learn more about secondary dominants and the music theory behind them, check out these great resources:

• Roger W. Petersen – Secondary Dominants
• Move Forward Guitar – Chord Progressions with Secondary Dominants
• Music Student 101’s podcast episode on secondary dominants

To best internalize Secondary Dominants and unlock their power, keep your ears out for them in the music you listen to – chances are, there are more than a handful of your favourite hits that use them. If you’re a songwriter, experiment with using it in your writing. Enjoy a little bit of dramatic musical tension!

The post Hearing Secondary Dominants appeared first on Musical U.

In this roundtable-discussion episode, the members of the Musical U team discuss the idea of “keeping it simple”, with anecdotes from their musical lives to illustrate the benefits of this mindset.

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Transcript

Christopher S.: Hello and welcome to the Musicality Podcast. My name is Christopher Sutton, I am the founder and director of Musical U. And this is a special episode because we’re trying something a bit different.

As said at the end of Episode 101, which was the second of our two-part celebration for hitting Episode 100, we had an amazing round-up of guests contributing their answers to “What’s one thing that could help people tap into their inner musicality?”

And listening to all of those contributions, I wanted to do something to follow up on them. Because there were some really fascinating common themes across those experts. As well as being incredibly varied and different and interesting and unique, there were a few things that came up several times.

And so what I wanted to do was just get a few members of the Musical U team together to talk through some of these topics that came up again and again. And so today, I’m joined by Adam, Sara, and Stewart. That’s Adam Liette, Sara Campbell, and Stewart Hilton from the Musical U team. And before we dive in, I’ll just ask each of them to say a quick “hello” and maybe share what they do at Musical U and outside of Musical U.

Adam, why don’t you go first?

Adam Liette: Hello, my name’s Adam Liette. I’m the Communications Manager here at Musical U. I’m also a classically-trained trumpet player and a self-taught guitar player.

Christopher S.: Awesome. And Sara?

Sara Campbell: I am the Resident Pro for piano here at Musical U. So you can find me on the piano forum there. And outside of Musical U, I am a piano teacher and voice teacher and a music business coach. So it’s keeping me busy nowadays.

Christopher S.: Definitely someone that wears a lot of hats. And Stewart?

Stewart Hilton: I’m Stewart Hilton. And you’ve probably seen me popping up all over the Musical U member site in many different discussions, and in your email box, and all over. Outside of Musical U, I play guitar with a tribute artist who does five different tribute acts. I play with a band on the side from that and also play at church. And in my spare time, I have a wife and sleep.

Christopher S.: (Laughing)

Sara Campbell: (Laughing)

Christopher S.: I like that sleep was last on the list. I think we could probably all relate to that.

Cool. So there are several topics we’re gonna be going through in the next few episodes. And the first one that jumped out to me was the importance of keeping it simple.

So this is something, I think, we’re often prone to losing sight of in music. And I was very aware of this as we were putting together the Musicality Podcast Power Pack, and I was listing out the hundred episodes and all of the topics we’ve covered and all of the guests we’ve had.

And part of the challenge of that project was – how can we make this digestable and accessible to someone who isn’t just gonna be overwhelmed by getting all of this stuff all at once.

And so I loved that this was the theme that came up with several of our contributors for Episodes 100 and 101. We had, for example, Bill Hilton who said that “you don’t need to be a good musician to make good music.” That one really resonated with me.

He was talking about how we think we need to be a virtuoso, in terms of technique. But actually, you can make really effective music very simply.

Casey Von Neumann mentioned this, too. And David Reed talked about improvisation, where a lot of people think you need a high level of ability. But actually he was pointing out this is something that can be part of your music playing from day one.

And Forrest Kinney talked about how you just need to sit down and play and listen. And it can be an adventure. And I think that mindset really helps you remember that music can, and maybe should be simple, at the heart of it.
I have a few thoughts on this myself. But I’d love to kick off with someone else. So I’m going to put Stewart on the spot and ask you: where has this come up in your musical life?

Stewart Hilton: It’s really come up, I would say, with the tribute artist that I play for. It came up in a surprising way. Because when he called me the first time to do a few shows, he said, “Oh, by the way, on three songs I do wardrobe changes as Elton John. So you’ll be soloing for five minutes.”

Christopher S.: (Laughing) Wow.

Sara Campbell: Wow. That’s a long time.

Stewart Hilton: That’s a long time. Adam will understand this. Back in the 80s, there was a lot of shredding on the guitar – guys who play at a million miles and hour, arpeggiate for every mode, plus some from other planets.
That was not me. I was never, kind of, a show guitar guy. I was more kind of like, you know, blues-y feel. Not that shredding isn’t feel. But I was just never really that type.

So when he told me that, yeah. I broke out into profuse sweat and other things. And then he must have caught on that I was a little nervous. He said, “Look, just keep it simple. It was a lot of what we talked about in our improv road map. Keep it simple, start low, build things up.” And I have done improv before with another band. But- five minutes.
So at that first show, we broke into it. And I felt like I was prepared. We were doing- I think it was “Benny and the Jets.” And I built it up and got it all the way through, and I felt like- when you’re doing solos, you feel like you’ve given your story and you’re done. And I looked over and he still wasn’t on stage. To which, I looked at the drummer, and thought, “Oh. I have more to go.”

But the big thing was, I guess, learning to keep it simple over time. I finally have slowly gotten to learn that. And it’s a great skill.

Christopher S.: That’s super interesting. You’ve mentioned the improv roadmap there. And that was something that was on my mind, was that, in that context, we talk about using constraints to help you feel freer. And how actually, restricting yourself to just maybe playing a single note can open your ears and your abilities, in terms of the dynamics or the phrasing or the articulation or the rhythm. And I love that there you were put on the spot with the constraint of “you must play for five minutes.”

And that suddenly changes a lot, doesn’t it? You know, you’re not going to be taking the same approach to form, or the same desire to cram all of the notes you know into the first bar.

Stewart Hilton: Right.

Christopher S.: You’re going to have to take a different approach.

Stewart Hilton: Yeah. And I learned, and – actually, a guy we interviewed Dave Bainbridge I had asked – I’m like, “Oh my goodness, dude. I’ve got all this stuff I’ve gotta learn. And I’ve gotta come up with things.” And he gave me some good tips. You know- start at the bottom of the neck. Slowly work your way up.

And I got better at it, to which- I did another show that he did. He also does a Rascal Flatts tribute. And at the end of the song, there is an improv moment. And I blew right through the ending. And the band kept going with me, thankfully. And then after, they were like, “oh, yeah. You totally missed the final four count in the ears.” And I’m like, ooh.

Christopher S.: That’s what happens when you train yourself to play a five-minute solo.

Stewart Hilton: Yeah, exactly

Christopher S.: And so what about you, Sara? I imagine this is something you are conscious of, from the teaching perspective as well as being a musician yourself.

Sara Campbell: Absolutely. The first thing that came to mind when you posed this question is that you have to start somewhere. And that somewhere can be really simple. I mean, it comes back to the question, right?

And for little kids- because I teach a lot of little kids how to improvise. I’ve started bringing this into lessons, basically from day one. And once we start doing that, improvisation starts getting a little less scary, if it’s something that- it just is a natural part of the music-learning process.

So with my- it’s interesting, though. Because I still have students in my studio who have been there long enough that when I started with them, we weren’t improvising as much. So I’ve noticed this really big difference between the students who were raised on it versus the ones who we started a little bit later, maybe in the teens years. So they’ve got the teen nervousness going on. ‘Cause that’s a thing.

And when I compare the two, the ones who are a little bit more nervous about it- they feel like they have to create something massively amazing. So if we’re in a group setting and we’re doing improvisation, you can tell that they’re really stressed out. And their improvisation tends to wander. And it doesn’t have much form or structure.

Whereas the ones who are more used to it- they started really simple. Like, hey, I would give them two notes and say, “Here are two black keys. You can play them in whatever order you want, in whatever rhythm you want.” And those are the ones who- they tend to start more simply as they jump into an improvisation.

And if you can start there, and, like, maybe just start with two keys. I’m always gonna be referring to piano. So sorry. (Laughing)

But start with two notes and see where that takes you. So that’s the first thing that popped to my mind.

Christopher S.: Awesome. And such an important underlying point that making it simple doesn’t mean it will be simple forever. You know, sometimes it is just the best way to get started on what will become a super versatile and complex skill for you. But you’ve got to be willing to take that first step.

And I think in a future episode, we’re gonna be talking about the importance of taking small steps forwards, rather than biting everything off at once. And I think this ties in very neatly with that.

Because there are contexts where you have to keep it simple, and simple is the whole mindset. And there are contexts where you just have to accept that you will start simple. And that is the best way to start, whatever you eventually might be.

Sara Campbell: Yeah, Exactly.

You know, you just reminded me. If you start with something very simple, and you just do one or two notes at a time, then say, “You now what, I’m gonna take a third note. And I’m gonna put it in there.”

The importance of repetition is something that I think can be lost really easily when we’re thinking, “Oh, I have to improvise. I must make new things at all times.” But it’s not about making new things at all times. It’s about exploring, “Well, what does this sound like when I change a chord underneath?”- and going at it from that perspective instead.

Christopher S.: That’s a great point. Yeah. And I was recently talking with the chap from bluesharmonica.com, David Barrett, for the podcast. And he gave this great description of how he explains improv and teaches improv. And that point about repetition was a crucial one.

You know, he kind of talked through how- if you don’t repeat anything in your improvisation, you’re kind of telling the listener it didn’t matter- it wasn’t worth remembering. And I think that goes so neatly with keeping it simple. Because we think if we’re doing the same thing again and again, we’re not challenging ourselves, we’re not showing everything we can do.

But the reality is music is based on repetition, you know. All rhythm is about repetition. And yeah. I think that’s a really important thing to pull out.

Stewart Hilton: I have to say that I have taught guitar, and what Sara is saying is – it brings back a lot of funny memories. Because a few guitarists who missed their first kind of pentatonic scale, and now say, “Next week, you’re gonna solo.” And that’s all I give them.

And without a doubt, the next week, what they will do is come back. I’ll play a rhythm. And then they’ll go up the pentatonic scale, come back down the pentatonic scale, up and down. And then you have to start and stop them, and go toward what Sara was saying.

Stewart Hilton: But it’s just funny that that’s the immediate vibe, is going up and down.

Christopher S.: Yeah. Well, I hesitate to say it, in case I get hate mail. But a lot of guitarists never make it that far beyond going up and down the pentatonic scale- if we’re honest. They just do it fast enough that you don’t notice.
Stewart Hilton: And I will say nothing.

Christopher S.: So Adam, as a former metal guitarist yourself, did you have any opinions on that?

Adam Liette: That’s absolutely true. Yeah.

Christopher S.: (Laughing)

Adam Liette: The faster you can play, the better.

But I just had a completely different thought on this subject. And I was kind of transported back to my first day at the conservatory. I’d walk into this hallway just full of trumpet players, which are like heavy metal guitar players- faster, louder, better.

And I had this stack of books. It was like five hundred pages of method books. And I was walking into my first lesson, thinking, “Okay, here it comes. You’re gonna learn to play like these guys you’re hearing in the hallway.” And my teacher said, “Play one note. Play one note.”

And we played a concert F. And he said, “Just hold it. And hold that one pitch. And make it as fundamentally sound as you possibly can.” And I couldn’t do it. I had started adding vibrato. My breath support was all over the place. I wasn’t in the center of the pitch. And he said, “That’s why you can’t play like you want to. Because you can’t play that one note with the very fundamentals of musicianship.”

And so then he turned off the light. So we’re in the basement, no windows, lights off. And I just have a tuner in front of me. So I could see his slides in the tuner. And I just concentrated on centering my pitch and holding it as long as I possible could.

And over the next four years, I mean- that was the fundamentals of what became my trumpet style, and my trumpet tone- was that simple pitch. So I still practice it to this day. And I think it’s so telling- we get all these etudes and exercises and everything, But if we start at that very basic fundamentals of our instrument and our musicality, that will lead us to the next step.

Christopher S.: That’s a really cool- I hadn’t expected to talk about this, but you’ve reminded me that … so much of what you just said is in common with how we approach singing at Musical U. And I think that often surprises people.

Because, you know, if you go to a website to learn to sing, you expect to be taught all the latest pop songs and be taught about vibrato and your vocal range and support and breathing and posture. And we approach it from the very basics.

Christopher S.: So we’re like, “Can you sing one note? Is it in tune?”

Adam Liette: (Laughing)

Christopher S.: And until you can do that, we don’t worry about all the rest. And you know, it’s critical on any instrument. And whether you’re improvising or learning to play, I think there’s such elegance in allowing yourself to focus on just playing one note.

Yeah. I think we get so caught up in the fast flurry of note-reading and note-playing and note-improvising that we forget that- I forget who it was, and I feel a little guilty for that. But someone in one of our interviews recently said- it might have even been in one of our contributions for the roundup episodes.

They said, “A single note can be really beautiful.” Like- you need to remember that if you just stop and you listen to one note, that can be a beautiful thing.

Adam Liette: You just reminded me of- Lesson 2 in the conservatory was sing the note, and then play it. I was like, wait, I came here to learn trumpet. And I’m learning how to sing. But he’s like- until you can sing it, how can you play it? So- yeah.

Christopher S.: This guy sounds amazing. We should get him on the podcast.

Adam Liette: I will try, definitely.

Christopher S.: So the other thought I had on this topic- I think we’ve talked for a bit about keeping the music simple. But where does this come up a lot for us in Musical U, aside from that, is in planning- which is something else that often surprises people as a big part of what we do at Musical U.

Because people come in, and their head is full of ideas and methods and theory and background and goals. And you know, the first thing we do with new members is we walk them through- what are you actually trying to achieve? What is that big picture vision? What is that goal you have in mind?

And then we can break it down from there and figure out what are the steps to get you there. But I think, when it comes to learning music- particularly in this day and age with YouTube within finger’s reach at all times and endless websites telling you different ways to learn endless things on your instrument or in your chosen genre- it’s so easy to be overwhelmed.

And so I just wanted to touch on that point, too. Keeping it simple is essential for making progress in your overall musical journey, quite aside from the importance for keeping the music simple and keeping your practicing simple, and so on. Just the planning, and what you’re aiming for, and the resources you draw on are- like, don’t try and do everything at once. Don’t try and pursue all the goals today. Don’t try and use every resource under the sun and study everything before you do anything.

I think that importance of keeping it simple is really powerful to remember in that kind of planning mindset, as well.

Stewart Hilton: I would agree. And I think that’s what’s great about how we have roadmaps set up. Because versus just saying, here’s all the things. Jump in. We give people a nice way of starting at kind of square root one. You know? And then building onto that, having that foundation, and then building on.

And even though, for some, they make think, “Oh, that’s kind of simple,” there’s some stuff when you read through it that – “oh, wait, I didn’t remember that little part.” And you need that to move on.

And I love watching all of the members go through. And you can see them go back, even though someone will be like, “Oh, you know, some of it was review, but there was a couple things that I didn’t think about before.”
So it’s great that it’s [inaudible 00:27:19] because now I can build on to that. And I think that’s a great thing. And I see it, even where I’ve taught. And I’ve talked to people about guitar.

I have one guy – I was playing golf and this guy came up to me. And he plays acoustic, and he told me he heard my playing. So he was asking me about songs.

So of course, I told him- for a good finger-picking song, play – a little “Dust in the Wind” is great, not knowing his level. And then he came back the next week, and he’s like, “I cannot do that.”

So then we had to go way back. And I gave him some other stuff. But yeah. Long term, and also, the short term, long term goals.

Christopher S.: Yeah. So we’ve had a few episodes of the podcast about goal-setting and planning and road maps. And we’ll put links to those in the show notes. I’ll also just mention that those road maps Stewart’s talking about- we do have previews of them available for free on the website.

So if you are, for example, wanting to play chords by ear, if you’re not ready to try Musical U, you can still go check out that roadmap. And you’ll see how we approach it step by step. And I think that can be very useful, just to give you an example of what it means to keep it simple and do it step by step like that.

Cool. Well, that was a really interesting variety of ideas and stories that that threw up. I think- yeah. It whet my appetite for more of these conversations.

Well, thank you Adam, Sara, and Stewart for joining me for this episode. Thank you for listening. Hope you’ve enjoyed it, and we will see you on the next one.

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But how can you improve your practice habits?

Let’s look at five ways you can make sure that music practice happens every day. Included are some tips for parents and teachers to help their young musicians stay excited and motivated to learn.

1. Be Prepared

Take inspiration from the Boy Scouts and have everything you need ready to go at all times. This way, whenever you have a few spare minutes, you’ll be able to get straight into your practice. So what do you need to be prepared? Here are some bare necessities:

• Have your instrument ready to play at a moment’s notice. It should be set up, in tune, plugged in, and good to go.
• Know exactly what needs attention – not just the piece, but the exact section – so you waste no time sifting through material and can dive right in. Have your sheet music already open at the page you need.

Set some practice goals each week, then break them down into daily tasks. You’ll then have a plan of what to work on next.

Parents: take some time before each practice session to help your child read through the practice notes from their teacher, and work out what pieces, exercises, and activities to focus on.

Teachers: make sure your students know what they need to focus on during their practice time. Check out some tips for writing effective practice notes.

2. Create Practice Triggers

In theory, practicing at the same time everyday sounds like a good plan, but in reality it can be difficult to implement. People are busy, schedules vary, and some of us are not morning people!

So instead of trying to set a regular time for practice, use an activity that you already do everyday (like brushing your teeth or watching a favourite TV show) as a prompt for practice.

Before long, your brain will automatically know that after you’ve finished breakfast, or walked the dog, or read a chapter of your book, you’ll be starting your music practice right away.

Think about your normal morning and evening routines, and look at what you can tweak, shuffle, and rearrange to make time for music practice. It will work best if you piggyback your practice onto something that you actually do every day (not something you wish you would do every day!).

Parents: we all know that kids thrive on routine, so chances are you’ve already got some well-established routines at your house. Where can music practice fit in? If you know that some days are so hectic there’s no way you can squeeze in anything else, remember that there are plenty of musical activities your child can do without an instrument! Have them use the time to brush up on some music theory, or sing along or tap along to music they love to improve their sense of rhythm and pitch, or practice solfège.

Teachers: if there are parents in your studio who don’t have a musical background, then give them all the information and tools they need to help their child plan their music practice schedule and activities.

3. Hold Yourself Accountable

Share your daily practice goal with at least one person who will be interested to hear your progress. The positive pressure of having someone counting on you to achieve results means you’re more likely to do the work!

Connect with someone else who’s also learning an instrument, or if you can’t find another musician, then team up with a friend who’s also trying to commit to a daily goal. Check in with each other for daily updates and progress reports.

Parents: become your child’s accountability buddy, and encourage them to keep up with their daily practice. Or you could enlist the help of a grandparent or other family member to fill this role instead.

Teachers: give your students a practice partner (either in your studio or connect with other teachers), divide your students into practice groups, or work on a studio-wide “buddy system” project – with students working together to achieve a common goal that requires daily practice from everyone.

4. Challenge Yourself

Working towards goals can give your music practice some direction and keep you motivated. Find (or create!) a goal, project or challenge that interests you. There are so many options, from the more serious (preparing for an exam) to the fun (taking part in a flash mob). It’s much easier to dive enthusiastically into your practice when you have something to work towards.

Adult Students: think about what type of goals are motivating for you. Do you need a deadline (like a performance or exam), or an ongoing challenge (like the 100 Day Project or a #musicpracticestreak)? Try a few different challenges and see what works best.

Parents: sometimes the feeling of mastering a skill is enough motivation to keep a child practicing music. But do you know something that’s more effective? Rewards! Use charts (like the ones included here), and think of a reward your child would love to get once they’ve finished it.

Teachers: find a new incentive program or challenge for your students. Here’s one of my favourites, or you can check out this post for more ideas.

5. Stay Inspired

What motivated you to take music lessons in the first place? Was it as a form of creative expression, to master a new skill, or just to have fun and do something you love? If you’ve forgotten your why, or just need a new burst of creativity, there is so much inspiration to be found!

Nothing compares to going to a live performance, where you can see the fruits of a hardworking, passionate musician’s labour firsthand! Check upcoming event listings for your city or town, invite some friends, and get inspired! Don’t be afraid to branch out and try something in a totally different genre than you usually like, and remember to look out for free community events too.

Parents: help your child find some inspiration via the magic of the internet. Search YouTube for covers of their favourite songs, talented street performers, or animated classical music:

Teachers: there are so many creative musical games and activities you can do with your students. If you want to start doing more improvising, ear training, composing, or theory with your students, start browsing Pinterest and reading music blogs for inspiration (and check out these free resources while you’re at it!)

Most importantly, remember that you always have the opportunity to recommit to daily music practice. Having a bad week (or a bad month!) happens to everyone at some point, but the good news is you can always try to get back into good practice habits!

Developing Healthy Practice Habits

With all these tips for improving your practice habits, the key is consistency. Always be on the lookout for continuous, long-term ways to keep yourself engaged, challenged, and inspired to practice. Make sure you always have someone following up on your progress with you to help hold you accountable. And don’t overlook the importance of preparation – something as simple as having your instrument tuned and ready to go can motivate you to sit down and practice when you have a bit of time to kill.

Though it’s easy to want to skip a day – resist the temptation! Studies have shown that it’s better to practice every day for shorter lengths of time than only a couple of times a week for long stretches. So strive for consistency over bursts of practice – your fingers, brain, and instrument will all thank you!

Bridey Gibson aims to make music lessons even more fun through innovative teaching ideas that emphasize creativity and play-based learning. She is a music teacher based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the brilliant mind behind Pianosaurus Rex.

The post 5 Genius Ways to Practice Music Daily appeared first on Musical U.

Glory St. Germain is one of those people. The Ultimate Music Theory program she created and continues to co-author is one of the most widely used and well-respected resources for music teachers to learn to teach theory. And when we say that you might be thinking about dry, mathematical-type material, all very serious and academic – nothing could be further from the truth.

This is a program that teaches the true fundamentals and everything that’s important to know – but as you’ll hear in this episode Glory has a real knack for bringing it to life and making it a genuine pleasure to learn.

One quick thing to explain – Glory makes mention of the ARCT, which stands for Associate of the Royal Conservatory, a teaching qualification provided by the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada.

In this conversation we talk about:

• The three ways to learn music theory and why most people are missing out by just using one
• How the combination of practical learning growing up and formal study later on let Glory understand both the “what” and more importantly the “why” of music theory
• And she shares one neglected practice which can help you learn 30-40% faster.

Listen to the episode:

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Links and Resources

• Ultimate Music Theory
• 7 Minute “Learn Rhythm & Rests” video
• Full online courses at UMTCourses

Transcript

Christopher: Welcome to the show, Glory. Thank you for joining us today.

Glory: Well, thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here.

Christopher: So you are known as one of the world’s experts in music theory and in teaching music theory. Was that something that came naturally to you? Were you someone for whom music was just always very clear and systematic and obvious or what were your early music experiences like?

Glory: Well, it definitely did not come easy to me. I probably was not the brightest light bulb in the package, so to speak, but I had a passion to learn and my early beginning with music actually started with my father. He was a multi-instrumentalist and it was like breathing and brushing your teeth. It just was not an option; you were learning music. And so I was very blessed to grow up in that musical family and my father, who was not a professional musician, but he was, as you are, a multi-instrumentalist and he could just magically pick things up and play but he realized that sometimes he, you know, wanted to play more things and he couldn’t, so as I was growing up he said, “You’re going to learn the language of music theory,” because that was a big thing in our family, you know, we would get together and have family reunions and everyone would play their instrument, so for me I had to go down that road and as I got older I struggled, especially with music theory, because unfortunately, you know, I guess, in my upbringing with my teachers there wasn’t a lot of support. Maybe they didn’t know how to teach it, because it’s interesting, isn’t it, that you can have a teacher that still doesn’t know how to teach? So I began my research and did a lot of studying, you know, to get me where I am today and I continue to learn.

Christopher: Wonderful, and so what was your instrument back then at those family reunions?

Glory: (Laughs) Well, I wanted to play the bongo drums but my instrument was actually piano and still is to this day and, you know, I’ve kind of been inspired by you. I listened to a previous podcast and heard you play, you know, several instruments and I thought, “You know what? It’s never too late to learn,” and, you know, I shared with you earlier that my mom, who played the violin, at the age of 68 started to play the accordion. She just picked it up and said, “I want to learn.”

My father played, you know, accordion and guitar and bass and piano and organ and harmonica and mandolin and banjo, I mean, you name it, he played it. He just had a passion for connecting the musicality of playing one instrument and exactly the same piece of music and then just playing it on another instrument and, you know, of course the timbre changes, like, now we hear this and, but it’s the same song. So he loved that connection and I thought, “Well, if my mom can learn at, you know, 68,” — I’m not there yet, by the way — “then there is still time for me to, you know, to pick up another instrument.” I mean, I play a little on the guitar just because my dad, who has passed away now but he had a beautiful Hummingbird guitar and I have it so I thought, “Maybe I’ll just take that out of the closet.” I play the 1-4-5 chords and that’s about it.

Christopher: That goes a long way.

Glory: (Laughs) Exactly. Yeah.

Christopher: Fantastic. Well, yeah, I mean, I feel like we could dwell on this point and talk at length about the joys and benefits of playing a bunch of different instruments and I think you more than most would appreciate how much of a head start you have on any instrument just through your deep understanding of music theory and…

Glory: Absolutely.

Christopher: …you know, whether or not you know all the formal names for things, if you have that mental model front of how music works I think people are often surprised how easy it is to pick up another instrument.

Glory: Oh, absolutely. You know, when we used to have our little family get-togethers and my father, just, would kind of throw me to the wolves and, you know, there it was, you know, the chord chart’s thrown in front of my face and then, you know, 1-4-5 and then, you know, so you’d kind of be playing this, not really knowing what you’re playing. Heaven forbid there should be a slash with another letter after it, right, because now what do you do?

But then I, you know, discovered, “Well, wait a second. If I’m playing in, you know, 1-4-5, we’ll just say, in C major,” and then my dad would say, “Well, put a 2 in there,” and I’d go, “Well, what’s a 2?” and “Well, why is it minor? Why is it minor? And then you play in a minor key and you have 1-4, okay, minor and now why is the 5 major? Like, I don’t understand that.”

So then, you know, I started to learn more about music. “Oh, there’s a raised seventh note in harmonic minor scale. Oh, I get it.” So connecting those then when you’re playing and you, even if you’re playing just, you know, at random for fun it lets you color with more crayons. You know, if we only have red, blue and green, well, okay, that’s fine, but what if you have purple, you know? What if you expand, you know, the colors of music and it’s just fun to hear different sounds, right?

So and how you can move from, you know, putting a 2 or a 6 in there and, oh, now the music opens. So for me music theory was absolutely essential. I mean, basically, I think all musicians, even if they say, “Oh, I don’t really know music theory,” I say, “Well, actually, you do because if you don’t know how long you’re strumming or what time signature are you in or what key are you playing in you actually do know music theory but what you maybe haven’t done is just explored more colors in the crayon box to expand your musicality so you can improvise and you hear things.”

You know, when my daughter was little I remember, this was, you know, back in the day, before cell phones and she would literally, but we did have an answering machine, and she would out somewhere and have an idea for writing a song and she would just sing it on the answering machine and at the end she’d say, “Don’t delete that,” you know, “That’s a song that I’m hearing in my head,” and then she would come home and kind of put it together and it was really then that she started to become that little, you know, musician of listening to different sounds and so I went, “You know what? You need to learn music theory,” because that’s why she’s a music producer today, is that she had that skills set.

Christopher: Wow. There was a lot packed in there that I would like to return to and talk about in more depth and I feel like we’ve quickly jumped to what I was looking forward to most in this interview, which was your perspective on the usefulness of music theory because, you know, as the creator of one, if not the, most widely-used, kind of, music theory syllabus among music teachers I think it would be easy for the listeners to assume that you had a very, kind of dry, and clear-cut and classical mindset on what music theory is and how it should be learned and certainly your material covers all of the bases in terms of traditional theory but I think it’s probably clear to anyone listening that you are anything but dry in how you think about theory and how you share the passion for what it can do for people.

Glory: Yes, and, you know, it’s funny that you said that. I remember doing a workshop. I do a lot of traveling and present a lot of live events and I went into one live event and there was one of the staff members kind of on the side who was a guitarist, a musician, and he said, “Oh, gosh, there’s gonna be, like, this two-hour workshop on music theory,” like, “This is gonna be so boring,” and I kind of laughed because I thought, “Oh, you wait, honey. It’s nothing like boring. It’s gonna be a blast,” and of course, you know, I’m passionate about it because it’s what helps bring the music alive. It’s what, it’s so creative and I just find it so interesting and when you actually understand the language and certainly you do and, you know, for our listeners, if you just are open to learning and obviously you are because you want to learn the instrument then just take another step into the world of music theory and I think it’s gonna be a big surprise.

It’s like getting a present. I’m like, wow, and, you know, I’m all about the musician and musicianship and ear training and sight reading and playing. You know, whether you’re playing classical music or, you know, my husband is a an entertainer. He sings jazz, pop, country, rock, well, he used to sing rock and roll but not so much anymore but it doesn’t matter. It’s not about what type of music do you play. It’s not even “Oh, that’s the instrument I play,” it’s about the music and the only way that you can connect that is, you know, if you think about improvising or you want to write your own song. If you don’t understand music theory, how are you going to take them deeper into your story and be more passionate, because you’re so limited?

So I’m just expanding the mind and saying, “Listen. Just, you know, just learn and see what you can do with those, you know, new crayons in your box,” and it just brings it to life and I think that’s, the written language of music is what the ear can hear and the heart can feel.

Christopher: That’s a nice way of putting it. So I think that gives us a vivid idea of how you think about music theory these days and to a large extent, I guess, how you approach it with Ultimate Music Theory and we kind of got a glimpse of what it was like for you learning theory in that family context.

Fill in the gaps for us a little bit. Was it purely, kind of, self-taught exploratory learning from your family? Did you get exposed to the kind of more traditional, classical mold of taking tests and passing exams and writing the treble clef very carefully seventeen times? What did that process look like for you?

Glory: (Laughs) That is so funny, because, yes. So my professional training began when I was six years old. I was playing music long before that, of course, because it was part of life but my training began when I was six years old and I started teaching when I was sixteen and at that point, you know, I thought I knew everything, ha, ha, ha and so I began basically because honestly I was making really good money as a piano teacher and I just wanted to buy a car, which I did.

But then I fell in love with the process of teaching and the more I taught the more I realized what I didn’t know and I then went back and attained my ARCT from the World Conservatory of Music and then I realized that there was even more to teaching than just attaining, you know, an ARCT in music and I began my training in NLP, Neurolinguistic Programming and studied that, became an NLP practitioner and then I realized, “Oh, there is still more to learn.”

So I continued to learn and I actually studied how to write books for effective learning which was really interesting because you can actually read a book and study a book that’s detrimental to your learning because it’s so confusing and it’s not laid out well and there is no rhyme or reason to how they’re teaching. So my passion really began to share my love of music theory and I did that by writing and creating the Ultimate Music Theory program and I wrote it in a very methogical way that, you know, this is how, step-by-step, and always thinking about the visual, auditory aesthetic learner.

How can we help, you know, children, adults, you know, teachers, and give them the information in a really easy-to-consume way? And I think that’s one of the things that I love when I get feedback from, you know, people from all over the world using or products and they say, “You know what? It’s easy to learn and it’s fun to teach if you’re teaching it and it’s engaging.” And basically you can open up the book and if you can read you can learn it. That’s how it’s been written. So it really was my journey and I continue to learn even with everything that I’ve done. There’s not an end. You’re always learning something new.

Christopher: Cool, and I want to talk in a minute more specifically about Ultimate Music Theory and particularly about your Complete Music Theory course but before we do let’s talk a little more generally about what you were learning over those years.

You mentioned some really interesting things there about, you know, how to write a book for effective learning and incorporating NLP principles and addressing different types of learner. So maybe you could just talk a little bit more for the person who’s listening and thinking, “Okay, maybe there’s a better way for me to learn music theory.” Do you have any pointers for what that process could or should look like?

Glory: Yes, absolutely. I, you know, and sometimes what’s interesting is people don’t really know their learning style because just because you want to learn by ear does not mean that you’re an auditory learner. And interestingly enough when I, you know, began my NLP journey, I thought, which is Neurolinguistic Programming.

So neuro is how we think, linguistic is how we communicate and programming is the results that we get. So how we think, how we communicate and results that we get. And I am a visual learner so I am one of those that kind of gets terrified when you take my book away.

And so that, for me, was something that I had to learn. How can we now learn? And I think when people say, “Well, I don’t want to read,” or “I just play by ear,” well, that’s great but let’s not close it off to just playing by ear. Let’s explore and see maybe new ways of learning but it’s interesting because for some students it’s important that we hear music first and then try to play it and then look at the written music and for others I want to see the music first, let me play it then take my book away and I can play it from memory.

So there’s different approaches. And one of the things that we incorporated into the Ultimate Music Theory program was mnemonic devices. So a mnemonic device is a memory jogger so there’s visual mnemonic, there’s music mnemonic, there’s symbol mnemonic, all of these things, and so when you think of (sings) bah-dah-bahp-bahp-bum, we think of McDonald’s.

I’m not a singer by the way, disclaimer right there,. But when you see the visual image of, you know, the golden arch, the letter M for McDonald’s, immediately you do that association and you kind of hear that little trigger in your head. So as you are working through the Ultimate Music Theory program you will see all those mnemonic devices that help you remember things and that makes learning faster. And ultimately when you incorporate visual, auditory and kinesthetic learner that’s when you can excel in your learning. So it’s really important to engage in all three modalities.

Christopher: That’s a really important point, I think, for people to understand. So it’s not that you are in one category and should restrict yourself to that type of learning. It’s that they each have something to offer, is that right?

Glory: Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.

Christopher: Okay. So maybe you could give an example, if you wouldn’t mind, of a music theory topic and what it would look like for someone to study that in those three different modalities.

Glory: Okay. So if you would take, let’s take intervals, for example. Would that be a good topic?

Christopher: Yeah.

Glory: Okay. So when you are thinking of an interval, you would, let’s just take a major third. So now you’re gonna sing it, you maybe associate a little melody with it but you know what it sounds like in your ear so now you have heard that one. So what does it look like if you see it, you know, on a piece of music? So here’s the interesting thing. If you are looking at it and you may see a major third, so I’ll say C major, so C to E would be a major third.

Now, there is, you know, they’re both blind notes. I’m going from middle C to line one. When you are expanding that and you’re moving that up to an augmented third, now you’re gonna make that E and E sharp, technically, so they don’t move. They’re still C and still E. They’re still both line notes but that accidental has enlarged the interval.

So now you can see that if you’re reading it and you can also hear it but now we want to involve kinesthetics. Now we want to play it. What does it feel like? Oh, okay. And the interesting thing is when you play that major third and then you play it as an augmented third, so E to E sharp, wait a second. That also sounds like a perfect fourth.

So now we’re starting to discover that what you hear as a perfect fourth could be written as an augmented third. So it’s just the discovery process of understanding, “Oh, okay. So there is different,” you know, “every third can be major, minor, augmented, diminished, but the sound also represents maybe another interval. So it’s kind of connecting the dots with how that would be.

So, interesting story: When my daughter Sherri was little, she’s a music producer in Los Vegas and has done very well for herself and now she was a little girl and I remember her playing at the piano one day but unbeknownst to me, I wasn’t really sure who it was. I have five children and all five of them are singers. All five of them are professional in the music industry. Sherri is the youngest of the five children and so I hear the piano one day and I thought, “Who is playing that?” because I wasn’t really sure.

My son David was also taking piano lessons but he couldn’t play it that well. So I went into the music studio and there was Sherri and I said, “How can you play that? Like, you haven’t learned those notes yet,” and her response was, “Well, Mommy, like, that’s just, I know that’s middle C and that I’m going up a third, down a second, up a seventh, down a fourth,” and she was playing intervalically and the fastest way to actually play music is to read the intervals, not to say, “Oh, that’s D. Oh, what note is that? Oh, I have to step down to a B. Oh, now what note is that?” So it’s not about reading the notes. It’s about reading the music, whether you do that by reading intervals. And once you understand intervals then, of course, you can start to build on chords and is that a major chord or a minor chord or an augmented, or, because they’re all based on intervals. So I think that’s one of the most important things, is, you have to learn your intervals and connect the sounds.

Christopher: Absolutely. Yeah, I had a similar breakthrough, albeit very late in my own journey when I learned first about chords and the kind of chord rules in the scale and then the corresponding scale degrees idea where suddenly, you know, all of this very intricate, key signature stuff has dissolved away and I can figure things out by ear without having to very carefully think through all of the components translations from note to note.

Glory: Yes.

Christopher: Yeah. Like you say, you suddenly feel like you’re understanding the music rather than all of this kind of fluff around it or all of this extraneous detail.

Glory: Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, the theory is not about music theory. The theory is about the musicianship skills and ear training. Like, it’s the connecting factor, you know, so when you can understand that component it’s just to help you become a better musician.

Christopher: Yeah. There are two things there that I wish that I could travel back in time and tell my twelve-year-old self and the first is what you just said. You know, it’s not about music theory for theory’s sake, it’s about music theory because that’s what opens the gateway to music for you.

Glory: Absolutely.

Christopher: And the second is that when you were talking about learning styles there I was just remembering so vividly how for me, at that time, learning theory meant studying a book and looking at the staff and it was completely devoid of listening and it was completely devoid of anything kinesthetic.

You know, no one ever said to me, “Why don’t we try this on piano?” or “What would that sound like?” And, you know, from the way you describe it, it’s very clear you were missing two-thirds of the puzzle there.

Glory: Well, absolutely and in fact, we have our Ultimate Music Theory app which correlates to our Ultimate Music Theory workbooks so the Ultimate Music Theory app is something that allows you to see the notation and it correlates to the book.

So if you’re doing intervals, which is in the Basic Rudiments workbook, that’s the yellow book and you’re on Lesson 7 which happens to be on intervals and you open up the Ultimate Music Theory app and you can hear the intervals you can see the intervals, you can just listen and then I, you know, by ear identify what notes that would be.

I mean, that’s kind of leading you into, you know, we talk about who has perfect pitch and who has relative pitch, things like that but developing the ear is essential. I mean, if you can’t develop your ear, how are you going to play, how are you going to even know, I mean, I’ve seen, you know, students, not my students, but I’ve seen, you know, people, little young children performing and they play a wrong note and they’re completely oblivious to the error and it’s because they’ haven’t been given a chance to develop the ear. So I think it’s really crucial that when you’re working on your music to just take time.

Another great tip is, you know, of course I’ve been talking about my daughter because, you know, one of her things is when you’re practicing and learning, record everything because sometimes you’ll play that little lick and you go, “Oh, what did I just do? That was so good,” And you can’t remember. So when, you know, her and I collaborate a lot and we have really great discussions about music theory, you know, because she also plays by ear. Great improviser and, you know, so she always says, “Hit record,” because you never know, and the other thing too is you can see your progress, right? So kinda wanna do that. So anyway that’s just a little tip with kind of getting your ear working is when you correlate the app with the workbook. You can hear it, you can see it, you can play it and it kind of brings it all together, so.

Christopher: You mention apps there. I had down in my notes here to ask you a question about the usefulness of music theory in this day and age, you know, when we’re surrounded by apps and you can click a few buttons and have a chord progression automatically generated for you. I don’t know if it’s entirely redundant, given the way you’ve been talking about music theory already but maybe you could just speak to that and if we imagine, for example, the electronic musician who’s dabbling on his computer and has to learn to read traditional notation and is maybe just kind of going purely by ear, what could you tell them that might open their mind to how music theory can be useful?

Glory: Absolutely. Well, one of the things, and it’s why I’m still passionate about my pencil, which I have in my hand, I’m obsessed with my pencil, and writing things down because the fact is that when you engage in the actually of writing you actually retain 30 to 40% more information than just through the visual and the auditory. So when you engage in writing and you’re notating, 30 to 40% more information is going to be stored in the brain and again, we talk about visual/auditory/kinesthetic learning, three modalities connecting is what’s gonna help you retain that information so if you’re just always listening it’s kind of like always, well, I mean, if you imagine going through school and never, ever writing anything down, you know, we’re retaining information because we write it down. We can see it, we can feel it, we can read it, we can say it out loud so for me, you know, when I’m teaching it’s really important to do it.

But, as you said, it’s important to connect that to the auditory. So how boring is it to sit and just write forever and it doesn’t mean anything to you and that, I think, is maybe, you know, a misconception that sometimes people have when they go, “Oh, I don’t want to learn music theory,” because they think they’re just gonna sit and draw 18 treble clefs and heaven forbid you shouldn’t cross the G line, you know the correct number of times or too many if you do the little circle in the middle. So, yes, it’s important and for me I’m passionate about all of my students.

And, you know, it’s interesting. If you actually asked my students, “Do you like music theory?” they would say “I love music theory,” because it’s how it’s presented, right? It’s engaging or having fun with it. We’re going to learn it but get out your pencil, you know, engage in the act of writing. You will retain more information and, you know, what if you want to write a chord chart? I mean, you have to know what is a slash? How do I write it? What does it mean? Put it together and then go jam with the boys. (Laughs)

Christopher: Nice. So you have probably a broader and deeper perspective than almost anyone else around on what makes for effective theory learning and we’ve certainly touched on some things already, you know, involving each of those different aspects and not studying the visual in isolation and connecting it with your real musical life but I wonder if you can provide any insight or observations about what I would call the, kind of, traditional approach to music theory which is, you know, “I’m just learning it to pass the exam. I’m going to study it from this book. It’s all about writing things down and that’s the kind of box of music theory completely separate from the rest of my musical life.”

Glory: Yes.

Christopher: And the kind of music theory we’ve been talking about and what makes it a joy as you just mentioned it is for your students.

Glory: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I have obviously, you know, completed all of my theory exams and music exams to, you know, attain the level of, you know, professionalism that I have, obviously and it provided me with education and I continue to do so. I think that me, personally, I think it’s very important to be studying and learning and to do exams and to follow a curriculum because when you study for an exam it is the same as practicing for a performance or going out on stage or just doing your very best when you play for your family. That’s like an exam. And when you set a goal, you know, the greatest motivation for achievement is goal-setting and goal-setting without accountability results in good intentions.

And so when you are going to do an exam don’t do it because you want to pass the exam. Do it because you want to have a deeper level of understanding. So sometimes I think the word is not, “Oh, you have to do an exam,” the word is, “This is cool. You’re going to reach this level of education. That means you’re going to be a better musician, a better player,” because that’s what it’s about.

It’s not about a theory exam. It’s about, “Wow, I know a lot of stuff. I could, like, jam,” and, you know it also enables you to have that certificate. I mean, I’m proud of my certificate. It’s hanging on my wall. You know, accomplishment is important but, you know, I, do believe that you’re never to old to learn so, you know, if you’re an 80-year-old you can still be learning. You could be 100 years old and still be learning but also if you have children, absolutely engage them in education and give them that foundation because if you don’t they’re going to have to do it when they’re in their 60’s. Like, some people go, “I wish I would have learned.” Well, you know what, it’s not too late. But also, if you have children or grandchildren, you know, please encourage them to get started with that foundation and if you give them that they can do their exams and feel confident and proud and become great musicians and take the next exam. So, you know, I think there’s a balance and I think it’s important to give young children and adults an opportunity. And you know, you may be, you know, 65 years old and say, “You know what? I am going to do my exam because I want that certificate.” So keep on learning.

Christopher: Yeah, I love the way you described that and I think, just like we talked about not studying theory for theory’s sake, we definitely don’t want to go down the avenue of passing exams for the sake of exams.

Glory: No.

Christopher: But as you mentioned, it can be a really valuable motivator and marker, like a milestone for you. I’ll confess that I chose, or my teacher chose, the exam board for my grade eight singing back when I was a teenager specifically so I didn’t have to do the one that required grade five music theory and so I totally sidestepped the studying of theory, and, you know, I picked up a fair amount along the way, anyway, but I did not take the exams and in my late twenties I went and I took the exams.

I sat in the exam hall, I took the grade exams, I did an online course with Berklee, too and it was because I wanted both the clarity of the course and the milestone of achievement and the kind of motivator to say, you know, “I’m not just going to wander around Youtube each week and hope I find something interesting. I’m going to study for this exam and I’m going to trust the syllabus someone has laid out to tell me what’s worth learning.”

Glory: Yes. Well, very good and I think, too, you know, you talk about, you know, doing that studying and doing some online and doing some with the teacher and I think it’s, you know, when you have that goal set, that accountability and I think that’s what a teacher is, ultimately, is your accountability partner and, you know, we’ll lead you down the path to success and whether you’re learning online or whether you have an actual teacher that you’re studying with or if you have a colleague, you know, if you’re just playing in a band.

You know, my husband, who is a professional entertainer, he’s a singer and he always told our children, all five musicians of our children that you should always play with someone who’s better than you. Always aspire to, you know, be like them or learn from them and certainly in our family and in our children, you know, we do their St. Germain Family Show.

So there’s five professional children all onstage plus some of our grandchildren are also onstage and they perform about maybe every two or three years. It’s very hard, because they’re all professionals, to get them all together and when they were interviewing my son David and they said, “So how does that work with, like, your family show?” and he said, “Well, it’s kind of like nine head chefs in the kitchen. It’s just total chaos.” But, you know, not everybody wants to be the leader but I think that that’s a really important point is for you to keep learning, you know, regardless of how you’re taking that course.

Christopher: That sounds like an amazing show – very cool! There were a couple of things there that I’d love to talk more about. The first is that idea of syllabus, and, you know, part of the value of exams being that there is a clear syllabus. I’d love to understand where your decision-making for Ultimate Music Theory came from on that front.

You know, I’m coming from a world where music theory meant the ABRSM syllabus, for example and when you were taking the ABRSM exams in classical clarinet it was very clear, you know, this is the theory that corresponds to this type of music. It’s all, it all kind of goes together, but, obviously, when you’re out there in the wider world and teaching online and running workshops in person, you know, you’ve got such a broader range of musicians and musical styles and eras of music. So I’d love to understand, you know, how did you decide on what should be part of your own syllabus and for someone looking to study theory themselves how do they know what is and isn’t important to learn?

Glory: Mm-hm. Very good. That’s a good question. When I first started writing the Ultimate Music Theory program the very first time, when I decided this was going to be, it was actually because one of my students came to me and she wanted to study music theory and she said, “Well, Miss Glory, I know you don’t know anything about music theory but if you’d be willing to learn I’d love it if you would teach me,” and so with that, kind of, the journey began and as I said, I, you know, kind of studied how this was all going to happen but the Ultimate Music Theory Program is based on, and not exclusive to, but it’s based on the Royal Conservatory of Music Theory’s syllabus because it’s important to have standards and we then expanded it.

We now, actually Shelagh and I, my co-author, wrote another 20 books last year to kind of fill in the gaps of melody writing and music history because that’s a great part of it, as well. So our curriculum goes from the very early beginner. If we’re thinking, you know, kindergarten grade one students all the way through to the higher level which I would consider grade 12 and I’m just being generalizing right now but because we wanted to have those steps all the way so the curriculum is mapped out so that you can start as a beginner and you can progress gradually through all of the materials.
At the end of that we realized that, okay, there are adult learners and they don’t want to do twelve years worth of learning. They are also capable of learning much quicker. And so that’s when we wrote the Complete Music theory Workbook. So that kind of combines everything into one. It’s 256 pages. It’s our complete rudiments workbook and that really was a stepping stone for many musicians because music theory is the universal language of music and it doesn’t matter if you play the piano or the guitar or the tuba, you still have to know the same language.

So this is not about piano theory. This is not about guitar theory. This is about music theory, which is the language that we all speak and, you know, interestingly enough, if you take, you know, musicians from different countries together and you put them all in the same room and you gave them all, you know, the same lead sheets and told them all, “This is what we’re playing,” you know, “Little Blues in A,” they would just play, not speaking to each other except through the music. So that is really why I wrote the Ultimate Music Theory Program was so that musicians could have that communication and still have a learning and still do exams if they choose to but also become musicians.

Christopher: Awesome, and you said something there that I would love to hear more about, which is that adults can learn faster. I think that will be reassuring to some of our listeners.

Glory: Absolutely.

Christopher: A lot in our audience are thinking, you know, “I’m in retirement,” or “I’m a bit older and I’m not going to be able to learn this stuff as quickly as the children do.” Could you speak to that a little?

Glory: Absolutely. You know, one of the things, and it’s why I wrote the books the way I did is because I, too, as I mentioned earlier, felt that I was not, I didn’t learn easily. You know, I was not onstage performing like a rock star at a young age. I progressed as an average person would progress and as an adult, and I went back to school again as an adult, learning more things, I thought, “How can I make this so that it’s easy to comprehend?” and that really is in the writing and it’s not, you know, something that I take lightly and I want to assure our listeners that if they choose to explore the Ultimate Music Theory program I think they will be pleasantly surprised with how simply it’s mapped out, that it’s easy to understand, that you get it.

In fact, in the Ultimate Music Theory workbooks, and I’m going to talk about the Complete Workbook, at the end of each lesson is a review test that is a cumulative learning so what happens is say, for example, you’re in lesson five, you’ve learned new things. Now, did you know that the only way that you can learn, the only way, is when you take the known and connect it with the unknown. If you don’t put those two factors together you can’t learn. For example, if, you know, you and I were, you know, I don’t speak French. So if someone were speaking French to us and we would have no clue what they were saying but if they had a bowl of ice cream and they said, “A la mode,” and you said, “Ice cream,” “A la mode,”” Ice cream,” “A la mode,” eventually, you would connect, “Oh, a la mode means ice cream. I get that. A la mode. Okay.”

So that’s the connecting factor and when you are studying and reviewing all of the time what I’m doing is I’m teaching you this concept and you go, “Okay, got it.” Great. So now we’re going to do a review test that solidifies that, written it down. Next lesson. We’re going to connect the known, what you now know, with the new information, the unknown, and now we’ve got that bridge and so that’s really when the light bulb goes on and you go, “Oh, I get that. That’s easy.” Boom. Thank you.

So I think that’s really when, you know, I talk with adults and I teach adults well and I think that sometimes there is that fear factor, like, “Uh, I can’t do it,” you know. If you think about today’s technology, kids, you know, ask a kid, “How do you get on Instagram?” “Oh, give me your phone.” Do it.

For, as adults, we have a fear factor, you know, I don’t even know, I mean, well, I do know how to text, obviously, but, you know, for some of us it’s just, like, afraid and I’m just, like, “Jump in the pool. C’mon. Let’s have some fun.” So, don’t be afraid. Just get out there and do it, you know? It’s just all about learning and jumping in so I think that, you know, we’ve had great success with our program and I’m really, and that brings that great joy because I’m here to serve and, you know, it’s, I didn’t write these books for me. I wrote them for you because I want to inspire you to be the most creative and the most passionate musician on the planet. So that’s really why they’re there.

Christopher: Nice. Well, hearing you describe it, I think it’s probably clear for the listeners how you help people past that intimidation and that overwhelm, you know, when things are laid out step-by-step and you’re starting from the beginning and building piece-by-piece their understanding suddenly this really huge topic of music theory that can be just baffling and complex and just seem like far too much for an adult to take in from scratch, I think it’s clear how that can be made digestible and kind of enjoyable to learn as well as rewarding and it…

Glory: I absolutely agree.

Christopher: …it’s probably clear at this point I have the greatest respect for the work you do and the program you’ve put together and so I’d love for you to share a little bit with out listeners about what you offer at Ultimate Music Theory and if they’re a teacher or a student what they could do to get involved and learn more and maybe see if this is a good approach for them.

Glory: Yes, absolutely. Ultimatemusictheory.com is really about enriching lives through music education so we’re not just a book publishing, you know, company but we’re here to help you so at ultimatemusictheory.com we have lots of free resources including, there is a little free seven-minute video that is about rhythm and rest and you can indicate whether you’re a teacher or a student and then that will take you down, you know, the path of what you would like.

We have lots of free resources there for you to enjoy on umtcourses.com. So umtcourses.com is our online learning. Now, the great thing about our online program, with the the complete rudiments of course, which is for students of all ages, it’s not for little kids, it’s for the adult learners and we also have the Ultimate Music Theory Certification course for teachers which is teaching teachers how to teach music theory. It’s hard to say with a mouth full of marbles but, so umtcourses.com.

And I guess one of the great successes about our program is we actually have online support for our teachers and for the students that are taking our complete music theory program so you’re not alone. There are exams to complete within our course because you know I believe in exams because it lets me know that you’ve understood the material. The average mark, and I will say this out loud proudly, the average mark of teachers completing the Ultimate Music Theory Certification Program course, online course, is 90%.

Christopher: Wow.

Glory: Over 90. Every one of our teachers. Now that tells me a few things. Number one, that you did all your homework and, you know, one of the things that I remember you spoke about in a podcast was about being committed to your learning. Schedule it just like you schedule, you know, your teaching as a teacher or just as you schedule, you know, your going to work every day. What time do you go to work? Make it part of your schedule. This is your study time. This is your professional development time.

The second thing that the success tells me is that I’ve done my job as a teacher and that I’ve communicated effectively. You can’t get over 90% if I have not given you the information that is needed.
And the third thing is that because you have done the exams you have actually achieved that and with that comes pride and in the complete program there is also two exams to do as a student. Shelagh McKibbon-U’ren is the UMTC examiner. She is amazing. She does all of the marking and does provide any support if you have any questions and, you know, we cover a lot of different learning styles.

I mean, Shelagh McKibbon-U’ren is dyslexic and I am not, so when we work together it’s very interesting because we come from two different perspectives. You know, people say, “Oh, I have,” you know, “ADD.” Or, you know, “I have trouble learning.” Well, we address those issues so that, you know, we want to help you learn and in fact the very first lesson in the certification course is identifying your own learning style because before you can identify someone else’s learning style, obviously your student, you need to know what your learning style is first. So we kind of take you through those steps and so there is kind of two ways to go. You can either go through the teacher program or you can go through the student program but we’re there to support you. We’re very open, you know, never hesitate to contact us. We do reply with love and compassion and a lot of fun. (Laughs).

Christopher: Wonderful. Well, you know, at Musical U we teach concepts where they’re required to develop the inner skills but we don’t specifically teach music theory and we’re very clear about that and so I’m always excited to have a great resource to point people to and Ultimate Music Theory is certainly one that I would recommend. So if anyone listening has been inspired and I think Glory speaks with an infectious enthusiasm about all of this I’m sure you’re feeling pumped up about learning some theory. Do head to ultimatemusictheory.com and/or umtcourses.com. We’ll have those links in the show notes for easy access.

All that remains is to say a big thank you, Glory. It’s been such a pleasure talking to you today and getting to know a bit about the person behind this amazing music theory course. Thank you so much for sharing with us.

Glory: Oh, thank you. It’s been an absolute pleasure and I look forward to meeting you in person some day.

Christopher: Absolutely.

Glory: Thanks, Christopher.

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The post Music Theory You’ll Love to Learn, with Glory St. Germain appeared first on Musical U.

In the last episode we heard from 11 experts whose answers to this question were varied and fascinating. There were some common themes, some of which you’ll hear coming up again in this episode, but each guest also brought their own unique perspective and insight to the question. We’ll talk a little more at the end of this episode about those recurring themes and how we can learn more from them.

We said last time that we’d tried to group the experts to make for two great episodes to listen to, but apart from that there’s no meaning to the order – so the line-up for this episode is just as impressive as the first one.

In this episode you’ll be hearing:

• Bill Hilton, author of “How to Really Play the Piano” talking about the level of instrument technique required to sound truly musical.
• Book author, podcaster, song-writer and musician David Andrew Wiebe of MusicEntrepreneurHQ.com revealing three things that can help you sound more like a pro.
• Innovator in school music education Casey von Neumann of Eclectic Music and CaseyMcCann.com sharing the tip that let her sound just as musical as her incredibly accomplished teacher.
• Leading teacher-of-teachers Sara Campbell of SarasMusicStudio, and our Resident Pro for piano here at Musical U, explaining why young children are often more in touch with their inner musicality and what we can learn from that.
• Practice expert Chris Owenby from PracticeHabits.co talking about what it takes to become an accomplished musician like the greats we admire.
• Rising star singer-songwriter Kendra McKinley pointing out the thing you’re probably forgetting to listen to which could make you sound more musical.
• Actress, singer, writer and cabaret expert Fiona-Jane Weston discussing the relationship between technique and artistry, and how to unlock the potential in a piece of music.
• Composer and guitar educator David Wallimann on escaping the constraints your instrument might be placing on you.
• Author of the must-have handbook for aspiring musicians, “The Musician’s Way”, Gerald Klickstein, on one activity that will transform your musicality and why it’s more vital for music than other artforms.
• Music technology expert Katie Wardrobe on one non-tech thing she does to develop her musical understanding.
• World-leading vocal expert and sight-reading pro Jeremy Fisher on how to overcome tricky spots and learn music faster.
• Creative music teaching expert Leila Viss on the mindset shift required to uncover your own creative voice.
• Music theory innovator Scott Sharp on the special way of thinking about keys and chords that can let you understand what’s going on in the music you hear and play.
• And Vincent James, the man behind some of the most inspiring events and books in the world of music tops off our episode with some counter-intuitive advice for connecting musically with your audience.

Are you excited? We’ve already heard all these and we’re excited all over again just talking through them!

Before we dive in, if you’re somebody who relishes this kind of musicality insight and knowledge then you are not going to want to miss the special edition we’ve put together to celebrate this 100th episode. It’s called the Musicality Podcast Power Pack, and we’ve taken the first 100 episodes of the podcast plus some clever extra resources to help you get maximum value from each and every episode, AND some super cool bonuses contributed by our expert guests. And we’ve packed it all onto a USB thumb drive you can put in any computer or laptop and instantly get access to everything.

No waiting for downloading, no worrying that the episodes might not be available any more in future – you’ve got everything you could want and more, all in the palm of your hand. We would really love for every single listener to the show to have a copy of this – so we’ve made it really affordable and we’re including free worldwide shipping to help get this out to as many people as possible. So if you enjoy the show and want the Power Pack yourself, or if you have a friend or family member who you’d love to hand it to as an amazing musical gift, please head to musicalitypodcast.com/celebrate – that’s musicalitypodcast.com/celebrate – for all the details. This is a very time-limited offer to celebrate this 100th episode, so don’t miss your chance to grab a copy of the Musicality Podcast Power Pack – head to musicalitypodcast.com/celebrate today!

Okay, with that said, let’s dive in.

Listen to the episode:

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Links and Resources

• Unlocking Your Musicality: Part One
• Interview with Bill Hilton
• Interview with David Andrew Wiebe
• Interview with Casey von Neumann
• Interview with Sara Campbell
• Interview with Chris Owenby
• Interview with Kendra McKinley
• Interview with Fiona-Jane Weston
• Interview with David Wallimann
• Interview with Gerald Klickstein
• Interview with Katie Wardrobe
• Interview with Jeremy Fisher
• Interview with Leila Viss
• Interview with Scott Sharp
• Interview with Vincent James

Transcript

Bill Hilton

Bill Hilton: Hey everyone, I’m Bill Hilton. You might have come across my piano tutorials on YouTube. You might have read some of my books about playing the piano, or you might have heard me before on the Musicality podcast.

Now today, I just want to spend a minutes sharing an idea with you. A really simple idea. Which if you take it onboard, can really help you tap your inner musicality and give you more freedom as a musician, help you release yourself from some of the constraints that you might have imposed as you’ve learned your instrument.

And the idea is this: you don’t need to be a good musician to make good music. Okay? It sounds really simple, doesn’t it? A bit a facile almost. A bit simplistic, yeah? You don’t need to be a good musician to make good music. But it’s absolutely true, okay? I’ve learned that over the years, and I’ve seen it in other people. And if you take it onboard it can make you a better musician.

Let’s just unpack, kind of explain what I mean by that idea. Now, when I talk to a lot of people who are learning how to play a musical instrument, typically the piano because that’s my instrument. And time and time again I come across this very distinctive attitude you find among instrument learners. And it’s this, “I’m learning to play this instrument, and I need to learn this skill, and that skill, and this big of theory, and this scale, and I need to learn to do it really fast. Or here on the piano, or there on the piano, I need to be able to stretch this distance. I need to learn all these things. I want to have learned all these things in two years, or five years, or 10 years, or whatever. Then I’ll be a good musician.” Okay?

Now in some ways that’s a healthy attitude, because as musicians we should always be seeking to get better, yeah? Because the better we get as musicians, the more technically skilled we become, the bigger the range of music we can perform. Okay? But it’s also in some ways an unhealthy attitude, because the implication behind it is, “Until I’ve learned all these amazing skills … Until I’ve learned to sit down and … play really fast jazz scales, or whatever. Until I’ve learned to do that, then I’m no good.” You know, “What I play isn’t worth listening to. It’s not worth sharing with the world. It’s not fundamentally good music.” The truth is, you can make good music, even great music with relatively limited skills.

All I’m doing here, is playing around with a C chord in a root position in my right hand and suspended notes. I’m suspending a D and an F in there every now and then. Okay? They’ll think that’s pretty complicated, if you don’t play the piano I can teach you how to play the shapes that I’m playing there, in 10 minutes or whatever. When all I’m doing is kind of … noodling around with it. Now, I’m not saying it’s great music, but it is kind of interesting music. That’s kind of cool isn’t that? It’s C, F, and G in the right hand, with an E natural in the base. So, you’ve got that kind of slight dissonance in there which resolves … when you get to the F in the base, okay?

So, I’m not using the skills of a massively advanced musician, but I’m making at least somewhat interesting music. Okay. So, when you finish listening to this, go and sit at your instrument or sit with your instrument, whatever your instrument happens to be, and just play around with something simple. And don’t think about the technical skills, don’t think about the chords or the scales. Think about the musicality. Think about the sound you’re making. What are you expressing? Because that’s what music is all about, okay?

There’s a little bitty quotation from the 16th century, Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, and Monteverdi wrote that, “The end of good music is to touch the soul.” “The end of good music is to touch the soul.” It’s not to show off or to play low fancy stuff, it’s to connect with people, and to make it an emotional impact. To make some sort of statement, to convey a feeling. Now, if you have loads of technical skills, then as I said, you have a bigger range of ways of doing that at your disposal. But even if you have very limited skills, okay? Or only quite limited knowledge, you can still be really really musical. You can still sit down at the piano or with your guitar or whatever, and make good music.

And actually, we all know that to be true if you think about someone like Paul McCartney, who I’m fairly sure to this day doesn’t read music very well. But who has written some of the great songs in the 20th century. Now, that’s not to say that I don’t think you should learn how to read music because I absolutely think you should. But you don’t need to wait until you have all those skills before you start making good music.

Kind of the [cornorary 00:05:11] of that attitude is that learning technical skills, and learning how to be flashy, and how to show off … By extension and getting loads of fancy gear or that kind of thing … Those are not ends in themselves. Some people really learn bits fast play, or fancy playing. Or they get loads of plugins or fancy instruments, and it doesn’t make you a better musician, okay? I would rather listen to a really good piece of very simple music played on a [knack it all 00:05:43] piano, yeah? Than something really flashy, but a bit soulless.

“The end of all good music.” Monteverdi chooses that word “good” very precisely. “The end of all good music, is to touch the soul.” And in order to touch people’s soul, you don’t need to know a lot more … than one chord shape.

So, as I say, get yourself to your instrument now. Just sit down, suspend your judgment, dig into that musicality. Instead of thinking, “Am I playing the right notes?” Think about, “What am I trying to say?” Because even if you’re not a good musician yet, even if you don’t have all those technical skills, you can still make good music.

Casey von Neumann

Casey von Neumann: Hi this is Casey Von Neumann, formerly Casey McCann from Casey McCann dot com and Eclectic music Atlanta dot com. Something that I’ve seen that can help people become more musical is to slow down and take small chunks. To take on less.

When I was a student, my teacher played with the most beautiful technique, and I learned a lot from watching him and what he would always tell me was that whatever I was playing, I should be able to play as well as he could play it. And that didn’t mean that I could play everything that he could play; he was an incredibly accomplished classical pianist. But it meant that he wanted, even if I just played five notes that I was gonna play that five notes with ease and artistry.

If I couldn’t play whatever I was playing with ease and artistry; that I should be taking on less or going more slowly. So that has held true to this day, in a lot of different aspects of my musicianship and that of my students. It’s amazing what we’re capable of and the artistry and beauty that we’re able to display when we actually lower the bar for ourselves and don’t take on as much.

That we force ourselves to slow down and be mindful, even when we wanna just leap to the top of the mountain, we just aim to get there step by step and then we will actually sound very professional and polished when we play even if we’re playing simpler pieces.

David Andrew Wiebe

David Andrew Wiebe: Hi, this is David Andrew Wiebe from the Music Entrepreneur HQ.

I believe that musicality is something that’s deeply embedded in all of us. Everywhere we go, music follows us around, whether it’s in our car, at the mall, in a restaurant, or on YouTube videos, or otherwise.

This is good news, because it means that you don’t need to dig deep to find your musicality, all you need to do is draw it out.

Music is essentially built off rhythm, melody and harmony. If you can tap out a beat with your foot or hum a melody to yourself, it’s proof positive you are already musical.

When you’re first getting started, playing music may seem a bit esoteric. Not because you haven’t heard music before, but because you don’t know how all the elements are supposed to come together to create a cohesive whole. Playing music is a little different from listening to music, and as you begin learning how to play an instrument, slowly but surely the mystery will unravel.

But you might be saying to yourself, I know how the basics work, I’m trying to figure out how to sound more like a pro. As you can imagine, this can take time. So often, we look at the pros and say to ourselves, “Look at how fast they are. How do you learn to play so fast? They sound so good, what scale are they playing? Their timing is impeccable. How do they stay on time?”

I’ve asked myself the same questions, so I know where you’re coming from. Here’s what I’ve found.

One: Players who I initially thought were impossibly fast turned out to be more precise than fast. Certainly, there are some musicians who are fast on their instrument, and they’ve worked hard to develop that, usually with the help of a metronome. But fast doesn’t always translate to sounding good. So, rather than making it your goal to play fast, make it your goal to play accurately. Speed will come with time if you focus on accuracy first.

Two: Most players are using the same scales that we use, so why does it seem like they sound so much better than we do? This mainly has to do with their phrasing. Listening to different genres can help you get a better sense of how a solo or riff is phrased in those styles. Learning a new way of phrasing is like adding another tool to your belt, as you’ll be able to pick and choose how you want to phrase a specific part. Another way of saying this is that, everybody playing music is using the same words, i.e., notes, but how you put those words together impacts the sound that comes across.

Three: Pros have spent years practicing, jamming and rehearsing with drummers and click tracks. Some musicians even use click tracks for their live shows so they can keep synchronized with their band mates and/or video footage. If you’ve ever recorded music before, you know how essential it is to practice your part with a metronome. The number one goal with a recording is to get all the instruments sounding airtight, so even though there’s a lot that can be done in editing and post-production, it’s helpful to get a take that’s as close to perfect as possible.

Bottom line: Learning to play in time takes practice.

So, in summary, you are already musical. It’s an innate part of who you are. This isn’t to suggest that you can get good at playing any instrument. You may need to try several instruments before you can find one you’re comfortable on. But you don’t need to uncover your musicality, you just need to nurture it. If you want to improve your musicality, exercise your five senses, especially sight, touch and sound. Watch others play music, spend time with your instrument, and listen to a lot of music.

Sara Campbell

Sara Campbell: Hey there, this is Sara Campbell from sarasmusicstudio.com. And I’ve got a little bit of advice for you today about tapping in to your inner musicality. This lesson comes from some of the youngest students in my studio.

I’ve had the pleasure of teaching so many students over the years of a variety of ages, and one of the things that I’ve observed, is that there’s a big difference between my very little students, and my adult students. And that difference is that little students are so much freer when they sit down to the piano, or when they’re singing. They embrace that inner musicality with ease, and here’s why.

As adults, we develop these really heavy expectations on ourselves. And we have a mean little inner critic that likes to come out whenever we’re practicing or performing. And that critic will say things like, “That note sounded awful. This rhythm is so boring. Why can’t you do this better? You’ve been practicing this for six months.” Little kids, they don’t have that inner critic. They don’t have those heavy expectations.

So my one tip for you is this: embrace your inner child, release those expectations, and find the joy that you had as a little kid when you were listening to your favorite song. So when it comes to improvisation, or practice, or performance, I want you to ask yourself one question, “What would my five year old self do?”

Chris Owenby

Chris Owenby: Hello. This is Chris Owenby from PracticeHabits.co. I think there’s an air of mystic that surrounds musicians in the craft, especially those who have risen among the ranks to become professional musicians and have celebrated works. Whether that’s in the form of audio recordings or live performances. I feel this can be encouraging for a lot of folks inspiring to watch someone in that light but I feel like that it can also be daunting and almost discouraging for those working at their craft and don’t feel like they’re growing as quickly as they should.

I always like to remind people that you have to consider the whole journey. You take a star in air quotes and analyze they’re working what they’re doing. Just remember there’s always a backstory. There’s always a journey that has propelled an individual who’s achieved great things forward. It’s those little things that we do each day as musicians. The five to 10 minutes of very focused practice here and there or the 30 minutes to an hour of focus intense practice once per week, or once a day even, that’s going to propel you forward. It’s those little things compounded that will help you achieve great things.

Not for everyone is the goal to become a professional musician or a star or someone who’s performing for large audiences. For many, the goal may just to become very good at his or her own instrument and the craft of playing the instrument. I think that’s a beautiful and wonderful goal. But friends, be encouraged to remember it’s those little things that add up, is going to help you achieve great things on your instrument and help you tap in to your inner musicality. Be encouraged.

Kendra McKinley

Kendra McKinley: Hi, my name is Kendra McKinley and I am a musician from San Francisco, California.

The piece that I’d like to share about tapping into one’s inner musicality is about listening. So if you’re singing with a choir or if you’re playing with a band, think it can be easy to become hyper-focused on the sounds that you’re making, on your own intonation, on whether or not you’re playing the correct part, or focusing on the quality of your instrument.

All of which are very important things, but I think that real musicality is achieved when thinking about how your instrument exists in relation to the other sounds around you. For example, if you’re singing and you focus more on the other voices, you sort of start to blend a bit more because your voice sort of gives in to what it is that they’re creating. So yeah, I would just say listening, listen more to those players around you. Or perhaps you’re performing solo and maybe you’re more comfortable as a singer than as a guitar player. Then try listening more to the instrument that you’re playing. Hope that’s helpful. Thank you. Bye.

Fiona-Jane Weston

Fiona-Jane Weston: Hello, my name is Fiona-Jane Weston, and I am a singer, actor and cabaret artist. The terms “musicality” or “being musical” seem to cover a whole range of meanings. It can mean something as simple as saying someone is able to pick up a musical concept faster, or learn an instrument faster, or simply to carry a tune with more emotional intent. Or it might mean someone who has very little in the way of musical education, but is able to really grasp the deeper, visceral connection with music.

It’s possible for someone without much in the way of musical education, but with a great gift, to in fact not really be able to express their musicality very well, because they don’t have the tools there. Whereas someone with less of an innate gift that is brought up in a very supportive musical environment, might really be able to develop.

It seems to me that the purpose of learning any artistic technical skill, whether it’s for playing an instrument, or to learn to dance or act or sing or paint a picture, is to get hold of and develop the tools that the artist needs to express themselves freely, to not be hampered by any technical deficiencies. So speaking as a singer, I know that a sound mastery of vocal technique and an understanding of how music works, grants the singer more colors in their paintbox to express the lyrics and narratives of a song in just the way they want to.

I would say that the things that have helped me in my musical career are to first of all become very familiar with the song as it’s written, and then decide how I want to share the emotions of the lyrics, in order to put my own interpretation on it. And also to listen very carefully to the melody and the musical accompaniment.

With regard to the melody, I will as myself questions like this: do I want to finish the note at the same time as the accompaniment? Or do I want to come off earlier or later for a particular effect? Do I want to alter the rhythm on this phrase? Or repeat the chorus in a higher key or even go up the octave? But this is not done to show off how high you can sing; it should be done for artistic reasons. There should be a real intentionality behind it. But at the same time, if you really want to express an emotion by going up higher, but then you find you might be cracking on the high notes, go back to your technique. Go back to your vocal technique, so that you can sing the high notes without cracking. Or bring the whole song down a key.

If it’s a really complex song, a good tip I’ve found is to really listen to the accompaniment. It will give you all sorts of clues as to how to interpret it dramatically, but also help you technically as well, so that if you’re someone who finds it hard to count … secretly, I find it hard to count … listen to the accompaniment, and it will tell you how long you want to hold onto the last note, for example. So that if you’re in a drumbeat … your personal inner drumbeat is different from the person’s next to you, it’s not going to be a problem if you’re listening very carefully to each other. You’ll be fine. You’ll both know what to do.

So I suppose the most important thing I’ve learned really over the years, is that sound technical mastery and artistic expression work together to create a really profound experience, both for the listener and the artist. They’re not competing elements; being clever technically doesn’t necessarily make a musician more musical than somebody who doesn’t have the technical terms, but can really move an audience. But it does mean that if you have those two things going together, that’s really when the magic happens.

So that the person who is relying totally on their artistic expression, but doesn’t have the technical skill or the musical concepts, I would really want to encourage you to go and learn them, and learn the concepts here, on Musical U, because it can only render your artistry even better. It can only increase your knowledge and your confidence, and make your communications easier with other musicians. And here at Musical U, you’re in the right place to do just that. I look forward to joining you here, on the musical journey on Musical U, and to find out just how you’re developing with your musical journey too. Let’s share it together. All the best to you.

David Wallimann

David Wallimann: Hey, this is David Wallimann from GuitarPlayback.com and from YouTube, also. And if there’s one thing that really did help me early on develop my musicality it’s this, to just put the guitar down, as a guitar player, or whatever other instrument you’re playing, just put that down, which will force you to not think like an instrumentalist.

I think the problem when thinking about the guitar or the keyboard or whatever … The problem with that is that you’re gonna start to think about the things that you are supposed to do with the instrument. What skills have you learned, what patterns have you learned and when you start to think in terms of those things, your music is really influenced and directed by the skills that you have acquired in your practice, and that’s limiting. You might be missing out on your inner musician.

So what I would do, and that has helped me, is to actually put the guitar down and don’t touch it and just imagine … imagine what you want to say musically. Just start singing something. The voice is probably the easiest thing to do that because we’re so used to using our voice, and just to add a little bit, imagine what you want the outcome to be once you have something. It can be super simple.

Once you have something, grab your instrument and try to replicate what you heard inside and what came out of your mouth and you’ll discover that most of the times what your playing is something new and fresh and exciting because it really comes from within and not from the limitations of your current ability to play the instrument. That helped me a lot. I hope it helps you too and congrats on the milestone for the podcast. Keep up the good work!

Gerald Klickstein

Gerald Klickstein: Hello. This is Gerald Klickstein, author of The Musician’s Way and publisher of musiciansway.com.

We’re talking about musicality and the one thing I’ve learned that helps musicians be more musical, and this is the one thing that’s probably the most powerful of all, and it is to self-record in practice and then listen back with an objective ear. Self-recording is crucial for us musicians because with our art form, it exists in time, unlike say visual artists whose work exists in space. For a visual artist, he or she can do some work on the piece, step back and evaluate it and then continue working. For musicians, when we practice a passage, once we finish playing or singing, it’s gone except for our memory of it. So if our memory is very accurate and if our perceptions are keen, we will be able to evaluate quite accurately, but of course, we’re human and our perceptions, our memories are fallible. So sometimes, especially when we’re practicing something that’s more difficult for us, sometimes, we might not notice certain details. Maybe our timing might drift, let’s say.

Self-recording provides us with the means to correct for any faults in our self-perception and memory, and there are lots of great ways to record oneself. I’ve written more about this in the Musician’s Way blog if you search for the piece called Self-recording in Practice. Writing 100 years ago, a famous music educator spoke about the same thing. That was Tobias Matthay and he wrote “There is nothing more fatal for our musical sense than to allow ourselves—by the hour—to hear musical sounds without really listening to them.” Of course, 100 years ago, people didn’t have the benefit of self-recording, but now we do so I recommend that all musicians record themselves frequently. I hope that’s helpful and I look forward to seeing you on The Musician’s Way blog.

Katie Wardrobe

Katie Wardrobe: Hi, this is Katie Wardrobe of midnightmusic.com.au. The thing that I’ve found has helped me over the years the most with increasing, and developing my musicality, is to listen actively all the time. Even when you’re just listening in the car to the radio, or to something on your iPhone. I found that active listening is a great way to develop the ear. So, I listen to the baseline sometimes. Occasionally I’ll listen to the chord progression, and I’ll try to pick it out. I might listen to the melody and imagine how it’s notated. And doing that over the years has really really helped my musicality, and helped me develop my inner ear.

Jeremy Fisher

Jeremy Fisher: Hi, this is Jeremy Fisher of vocalprocess.co.uk. There’s one thing I learned early on, that I think could really help you feel more musical, and be happier with the way you perform: stepped practicing. I can make music for hours, and that helps me learn how my instrument works. But sometimes I hit a phrase I can’t do. So here’s my tip: find the exact point in the phrase that you can’t do, and add a bar or a measure before it and after it. Mistakes are only made in context, so experiment with the context. Concentrate on what leads into the mistake, and what leads out of it.

Just do those bars a few times until you’re comfortable, then add another bar before it and after it. And you carry on until you’ve built up the whole phrase. You can often discover that the problem isn’t where you thought it was in the phrase, it’s the way you’re approaching the difficult note. Do this type of focused practice, and that means … well I can learn pieces really quickly and iron out the problems with only a few minutes of practice. Try it out. Works for me.

Leila Viss

Leila Viss: Hi, this is Leila Viss of 88pianokeys.me and 88creativekeys.com.

There was one thing I learned early on, which I think could really help others feel more musical and that is nothing is original. After reading Austin Kleon’s book, “Steel Like an Artist,” it gave me the freedom and the material to be creative. Instead of feeling like I had to come up with an idea out of thin air, I now borrow ideas, explore them and blend them with my own DNA.

I encourage you to take an idea, put your own twist on it and find your creative voice.

Scott Sharp

Scott Sharp: Hi, this is Scott Sharp with Fretboard Toolbox. And one of the most important things I’ve ever learned, and I learned it later on in playing is to think of music in terms of keys. So I used to just think that chords were kind of random and what scales went with ’em were random.

But once I started understanding that if a song was in the key of G Major the chords were predictable and the scales that fit together were predictable; it started opening up all sorts of new musical ideas forming. So when I know a song’s in the key of G now, I know the chords G, C Major, D Major are likely. The one, four, five. I know A Minor, B Minor or E Minor; the two, three or six chords can be in there.

Then I know that any chord that’s in a song that’s in the key of G, that is not one of those six is breaking a rule. And once I know what rule’s being broken, I can play that same idea in any key. And so, the other part that really added a ton was learning the notes that make up the chords. Because once I started seeing that G Major chord is made of the notes G, B, and D; then I could see that on any instrument. As long as I can find and figure out where’s all the G, B, and D’s then I can play G Major on anything.

And if I know what chords fit in the key of G Major, I can start playing all sorts of songs on all sorts of different instruments; and it opened up a lot for me. Hope it does the same for you. Thanks for your time and hope y’all enjoy.

Vincent James

Vincent James: Hi, this is Vincent James from Keep Music Alive, founder of Kids Music Day and Teach Music Week. My wife Joanne and I are also authors of the book series, ’88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life.’

One thing that’s been beneficial to me is to intentionally slow down when I’m performing a song. Sometimes we’re a little nervous when performing live, or at least I am, and we tend to speed up the tempo. And I’m not just talking about the drummers out there.

What happens when you slow it down a little is you start to feel the music you’re playing more, and that absolutely comes across to your audience. The whole purpose of a song performance is to inspire your listener to feel something, and that’s a lot harder if you’re not truly feeling it yourself.

We want you to keep on playing the music and special thanks to Musical You for helping us all be more musical.

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The post Unlocking Your Musicality: Part Two appeared first on Musical U.

Years later, Michele has enjoyed much success in the world of contemporary piano, releasing seventeen albums and receiving numerous nominations, awards, and very positive reviews – even appearing on the Billboard charts and winning the People’s Choice award in the One World Music Awards.

Musical U interviewed this inspiring pianist and composer on her early and deliberate career beginnings, her intuitive, aural approach to composition, and a typical day in the life of a professional musician who is continuously exploring new musical avenues.

I began playing when I was around 5 years old. I would play music by ear, learning to play my favorite melodies or songs I heard in school, or on TV.

My mom put me in lessons when I was 7 years old, and I hated it. I stopped after just a few lessons because I didn’t want to play classical music, and I felt that it took the fun out of playing. I much preferred to just play by ear and learn on my own.

I started composing when I was 8 years old, and from there I preferred to just write my own music rather than figure out how to play other people’s music. I started improvising and making up melodies and songs that made my heart sing. Back then my music was very basic and simple, but it was a great beginning that has turned into something wonderful.

I released my first album many years later, when I was in my late 20’s.

George Winston was my biggest influence when I was little. I learned to play many of his songs by ear before I started composing my own music. I listened to his music all the time, along with Mannheim Steamroller and various artists from Windam Hill Records. Later, I was inspired by Jim Brickman and Paul Cardall. Currently, I’m most inspired by Ludovico Einaudi, Chad Lawson, Doug Hammer and Neil Patton.

I love to compose in the morning after I get up for the day. I like to spend at least 30 minutes just playing and improvising at my piano, seeing what comes out based on how I’m feeling.

I record a lot of what I improvise on my phone so that I can refer back to it if I improvised something particularly interesting or appealing.

Once a song starts to develop, I will focus all my effort and energy on that piece until it’s fully formed. Once I have it memorized and under my fingers, I’ll work on the development of it until it’s a finished piece. This process can take minutes, or days. Usually it’s very fast.

My first album was recorded using a digital piano and a tape recorder, and I released it on cassette tape. It was extremely makeshift, but it was intended for gifts for Christmas for friends and family.

After that release was so well received, I bought a Yamaha Clavinova digital piano and recorded my albums via MIDI, which I had mastered in my uncle’s home recording studio. I released 6 of my albums this way, on CD. From there I recorded 3 of my albums live in the studio on a Yamaha C7, and after I bought my own C7, I recorded at home.

I currently still record at home on my Fazioli F212 with my own home recording studio, and have my mastering engineer do all the post work for me at his studio.

Recording and performing are two separate things for me. My first live performance wasn’t until 2007, when I shared the stage with Gary Girouard when he came to Utah to perform and invited me to be a guest performer.

I slowly began doing shows in the years after, and my first full length tour was in 2012 with Scott D. Davis. We did a second tour around the entire US in 2013. After that I did several tours with other musicians, and in the last couple of years have reduced the amount I tour to work on other musical projects.

I also run my own in-home concert series at my house in Utah. I do about 8 concerts a year out of my home. As of today, I’ve performed in over 250 concerts around the US.

It started as a hobby, really. I made albums for my friends and family as Christmas gifts each year.

I put my music on iTunes in 2003, and it started selling a lot better than I expected. In 2005 I became part of Whisperings Solo Piano Radio, and in 2007 I had my first performance. By that time I was making enough money with music sales to cover my bills, and as a leap of faith, I decided to pursue music full time. I quit my day job in June 2007 to follow that dream, and have been a full-time professional musician ever since.

I worked in Project Management before I quit my day job to pursue music full time, so I have a background in administrative work.

Running a music business is a lot more of the administrative side than it is the creative side. I spend most of my day in my office handling customer service, social media, engagement, advertising, marketing, bookkeeping, music releases, and streaming.

I spend a few hours at the piano most days, but there are other days where I don’t touch my piano at all. And, as a business owner, I work way more than I ever did at an 8-5 day job.

It was instrumental and the sole way I learned how to play. Even now, I memorize and play my own compositions by ear. If I can’t remember how to play something I wrote from a long time ago, all I have to do is listen back so I can remember how to play it.

I can’t read or write music. I hire a transcriptionist to transcribe my music for me, and a proofer to make sure the transcriptions are correct.

Improvisation is the key element in how I compose. I improvise at the piano daily, and if something catches my ear as particularly wonderful, I’ll turn it into a song for release. My improvisation is largely emotion based – I just play what feels good in the moment.

Stretch outside your comfort zone and don’t be afraid to mess up. Sometimes it’s those “mistakes” that produce the best music. Improvisation is about exploring the keys and finding a story in the notes. Let your emotions and imagination drive it… pay attention to what you’re feeling or thinking when you improvise. Use the keys and notes as your canvas as though you’re painting a picture. Practice improvising daily and make it a part of your practice routine. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

Play from your heart. Use the piano as your tool for expression, creativity, therapy, and release. Write music because you love it, and it’s part of who you are, not because you’re trying to make a career out of it. When you make music for you, and you alone, because it’s your therapy, and creative release and outlet, that’s where the magic happens.

Connect to it, feel it, love it, be part of it. I often joke that the piano and my music is similar to that scene in the movie Avatar, where they connect their braids together. For me, that’s what playing is like. I connect to the piano and I let my heart and soul out through the music.

One World Music is a great group of people who play and support independent musicians in the New Age, World, Ambient, and Contemporary genres. They do a lot to support us and our music, and help us gain exposure.

They have an awards ceremony each year to honor their best albums of the year. I was nominated in the Best Solo Piano album category, as well as the People’s Choice category. My friend Shoshana Michel won the Best Solo Piano Album, and I won the People’s Choice award. It was very exciting and I was honored to be included in this years awards.

Right now I’m focusing on releasing singles. I’ve released 4 singles this year, and a couple last year. I released my third Christmas album last winter, and when I have 10-12 singles completed, I’ll release them on an official album.

I just got home from a week long cruise with Audiosyncracy At Sea, where I was a guest performer. I’ve got several concerts in my home concert series coming up, the next one is on July 14th with my guitarist friend, Lance Allen. I’m also working on some official video releases, and special YouTube series too. Staying busy and always working on new ideas and projects.

Playing and Composing – The Aural Way

30 seconds into listening to any of Michele’s compositions, one thing becomes very clear: this is music written with feeling, spontaneity, and expressivity. The fact that Michele does not read or write music has clearly not hurt her – rather, it has made her an intuitive, mesmerizing player who is free from reliance on transcription and sheet music.

The key to her success is music education’s best-kept secret: a focus on ear training, aural skills, and playing by ear. These skills make for more musical performances and a deep connection between the composer and their music.

Developing your ear training skills is something you can easily incorporate into your music practice. Try playing out the melody line of your favourite song, or learning to recognize intervals by ear using solfa, or challenging yourself to play your favourite piece of music as expressively as you can, rather than as flawlessly as you can.

The post Off the Page and with Feeling, with Michele McLaughlin appeared first on Musical U.