Category: videos

New musicality video:

Can rap music be an educational tool to teach children about maths, grammar, and healthy living initiates? http://musicalitypodcast.com/150

Today on the show we’re talking with LaMar Queen, also known as Mr. Q-U-E, the rapper behind Music Notes, a company that’s been having great success providing educational rap songs to schools across the U.S.A.

Educational songs aren’t a new idea but Music Notes brings a really fresh take to it, and their songs have been shown to improve test scores in non-music subjects as well as encouraging more responsible attitudes towards schoolwork and peer support for healthier living initiatives.

We must confess that when we first came across Music Notes we thought it was really cool – but we weren’t certain it was a good fit for this podcast… Because it’s a fascinating musical project – but is it really about musicality? Well, as we dug in we realised that yes, there are some really interesting questions about musicality here that we were excited to pick LaMar’s brains on. You’ll find there are big learning points in this interview for any musician wanting to connect more deeply with music.

We talk about:

– Why music is so powerful as a channel for learning

– The challenges of writing a song that has an impact beyond just entertainment

– How LaMar got started freestyle rapping – and a simple way you can try it yourself

We’re really impressed with the work LaMar’s doing with his team at Music Notes and it was cool to hear his thoughts on how their projects are influencing young minds both for their musical development and their education and upbringing outside of music.

We all have a tendency to get stuck in the weeds and the nitty-gritty of learning music, so we hope this episode will do for you what it did for us, which was to serve as a great reminder of the magic of music and just how impactful it can be.

Listen to the episode: http://musicalitypodcast.com/150

Links and Resources

Music Notes Online – http://www.musicnotesonline.com/

Music Notes on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/musicnotesfans/

Mr. Q-U-E’s instructional music videos – http://www.musicnotesonline.com/music

If you enjoy the show please rate and review it! http://musicalitypodcast.com/review

Join Musical U with the Special offer for podcast listeners http://musicalitypodcast.com/join

Let us know what you think! Email: hello@musicalitypodcast.com

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Learn more about Musical U!

Website:
https://www.musical-u.com/

Podcast:
http://musicalitypodcast.com

Tone Deaf Test:
http://tonedeaftest.com/

Musicality Checklist:
https://www.musical-u.com/mcl-musicality-checklist

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MusicalU

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Subscribe for more videos from Musical U!

Entertainment and Education, with Mr. Q-U-E

New musicality video:

Today we’re joined by Alex Forbes from CreativeSongwriter.com http://www.musicalitypodcast.com/149

Alex has over 100 releases to her name including several Billboard-charting singles as well as tracks heard often on the radio and TV. She’s taught songwriting at NYU’s Steinhardt school and countless workshops and songwriting camps and collaborated with top musicians including Cyndi Lauper. She is the author of “Write Songs, Right Now” and as you’re going to learn in this conversation she has a really sharp and refreshing attitude to the art and craft of songwriting.

In this conversation we talk about:

– Whether it was persistence or momentary inspiration that produced Alex’s first big radio hit.

– The most important thing a beginning songwriter should do on day one, and the #1 thing you can do to improve your odds of succeeding with it, and

– The four elements she thinks are essential for a song to be really great.

It should come as no surprise to regular listeners of this show that as someone invited to be a guest here she shares our encouraging and inclusive attitude to music-making. Far from teaching that song-writing is just for the gifted few, Alex teaches that anybody can and should give it a try – and her enthusiasm is infectious so we think there’s a good chance you’ll go away from this episode inspired to try writing a song or two yourself!

Watch the episode http://www.musicalitypodcast.com/149

Links and Resources

CreativeSongwriter.com – https://www.creativesongwriter.com/

Breakthrough Song Workshop (video series) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRp_8JnXPE8

Contact Alex Forbes – https://www.creativesongwriter.com/contact

Let us know what you think! Email: hello@musicalitypodcast.com

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Learn more about Musical U!

Website:
https://www.musical-u.com/

Podcast:
http://musicalitypodcast.com

Tone Deaf Test:
http://tonedeaftest.com/

Musicality Checklist:
https://www.musical-u.com/mcl-musicality-checklist

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MusicalU

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MusicalU

Subscribe for more videos from Musical U!

Songwriting: Start and Succeed, with Alex Forbes

New musicality video:

What’s the secret to becoming a composer? http://musl.ink/pod148

Today we have the pleasure of speaking with someone we’ve wanted to have on the show since day one, a long-time collaborator at Musical U and at Easy Ear Training before that, Sabrina Peña Young.

Sabrina is an award-winning composer who created the first ever original fully-animated opera, Libertaria. We’ve long been in awe of the range and scale of projects Sabrina manages to take on and bring to success, and for the first time we got to sit down with her and actually dig into the question of how she manages to do all that she does.

Sabrina is certainly someone who people would be quick to call “talented” or “gifted”, yet we knew from working with her that she had as little belief in the importance of natural talent as we do – so we were utterly curious to know: if it’s not talent, how does she do it all?

In this conversation we talk about:

– Sabrina’s musical upbringing and how helpful attention to detail can become harmful perfectionism

– The remarkable college environment that transformed who she was as a musician and shaped who she’d become as a composer and film-maker, and

– The role that mentors have played in her journey and her advice for aspiring musicians seeking a mentor themselves.

With Sabrina’s extensive experience, fascinating projects and deep expertise, this conversation was never going to be a short one! And honestly, even after running a bit long we felt we’d only just scratched the surface. We’re hoping we’ll be seeing Sabrina on the podcast again before too long! And we think after hearing this episode you’re going to be feeling the same way.

Links and Resources

Sabrina Peña Young’s website –

You’re Invited to Composer Boot Camp, with Sabrina Peña Young (interview) –

Interview with Sabrina about her Boot Camp –

Songwriting 101, by Sabrina Peña Young –

Filmmaking Crash Course, by Sabrina Peña Young –

Libertaria: The Virtual Opera, on YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon
Futurist Music Anthology –

Let us know what you think! Email: hello@musicalitypodcast.com

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Learn more about Musical U!

Website:
https://www.musical-u.com/

Podcast:
http://musicalitypodcast.com

Tone Deaf Test:
http://tonedeaftest.com/

Musicality Checklist:
https://www.musical-u.com/mcl-musicality-checklist

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MusicalU

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MusicalU

Subscribe for more videos from Musical U!

Creativity, Composing, and Confidence, with Sabrina Peña Young

New musicality video:

Could A Forgotten 83-Year Old Method Hold The Missing Piece To Easily Becoming A “Natural” in Music? https://musl.ink/ytfoundations

Can you imagine having the kind of musical mind that can:

– Hear music and effortlessly recognise the notes and chords by ear.

– Glance at sheet music, tab or a chord chart and immediately hear in your head how it should sound.

– Spontaneously create your own original musical ideas as easily as breathing and share them with other musicians or an audience using your voice or your instrument.

– Just sit down and play for your own pleasure, relaxation and creative fulfillment.

– Sit in on jam sessions or gigs with any group of musicians with no prior preparation required because you know you’ll have something solid to contribute.

A musical mind that feels capable and confident in any musical situation – because you understand instinctively how music is put together.

The kind of musical mind that makes learning new things in music is a breeze – because everything just connects together and makes sense.

Does that sound exciting to you?

In our Musicality Unleashed series we’ve been talking about the mindset shifts and mental models which can empower you to do all these things and more. And last time we talked about how to bring this all together with the established “Kodály” approach which has been proven over decades to effectively put in place an empowering foundation of musicality.

After discovering the effectiveness of the Kodály approach I decided we had to do something to get it into more people’s hands, so last year we launched the first ever online training course following a Kodály approach, Foundations of a Musical Mind.

Learn more at https://musl.ink/ytfoundations

Foundations of a Musical Mind

New musicality video:

We’ve been talking in this Musicality Unleashed series about some powerful insights and mindset shifts for tapping into your inner musician and transforming how free, confident and creative you feel in music. http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

We’ve talked particularly about mental models – and how it’s a foundation of the right mental models which can set you up for success and turn you into the “natural” musician who can learn new musical concepts and skills quickly and easily, and empower you to do impressive things instinctively, like play by ear, improvise, and create your own music.

We’ve talked about solfa and rhythm syllables as two specific examples of those empowering mental models and about song-based learning as a neat way to make it a fun and musical experience to develop your musical mind.

We also looked at creativity and how it’s something that can actually make your music learning easier and more enjoyable when you include it as soon as possible as the vehicle, not the destination.

So I’m hoping that you’re feeling a new enthusiasm and excitement about your music learning going forwards!

Take one or more of these ideas and apply it in your musical life and you’re going to see some impressive results.

So if you’re interested in an easy and affordable way to get access to this amazing approach then stay tuned for next time where I’ll be sharing all the details!

Discover more with Musicality Unleashed! http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

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Learn more about Musical U!

Website:
https://www.musical-u.com/

Podcast:
http://musicalitypodcast.com

Tone Deaf Test:
http://tonedeaftest.com/

Musicality Checklist:
https://www.musical-u.com/mcl-musicality-checklist

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MusicalU

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MusicalU

Subscribe for more videos from Musical U!

Bringing It All Together [Musicality Unleashed]

New musicality video:

Creativity in music isn’t something reserved for a gifted few, and it’s not some advanced skill you need to study for years before you can do. http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

Creative activities like improvising and composing can be part of your music learning from day one or added in at any time.

If you’re like most music learners, you see creative skills like composing, songwriting and improvisation as advanced skills. Things you’ll be able to do one day once you get “good at music”.

Or you might even have ruled them out completely, thinking you’re just not a “creative person”.

And I understand why you’d think that way. When you see people be creative in music it’s impressive, and it often does go hand-in-hand with instrument proficiency and advanced skill levels.

But why do we pick up an instrument and start learning music in the first place?

Discover more with Musicality Unleashed! http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

===============================================

Learn more about Musical U!

Website:
https://www.musical-u.com/

Podcast:
http://musicalitypodcast.com

Tone Deaf Test:
http://tonedeaftest.com/

Musicality Checklist:
https://www.musical-u.com/mcl-musicality-checklist

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MusicalU

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MusicalU

Subscribe for more videos from Musical U!

Creativity is the Vehicle, Not the Destination [Musicality Unleashed]

New musicality video:

Ask the average person in the street to sing for you and they’ll say “Nope, I can’t sing, I’m tone deaf!” Sound familiar? What’s funny is that even passionate musicians, from amateur to professional, will tell you this! http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

We treat singing like an innate part of us, something you’ve either got or you don’t.

And I understand why you’d think that because singing is an innate part of us, it’s the most natural of musical activities.

BUT real tone deafness is extremely rare – 98% of those who consider themselves tone deaf or unable to sing actually just haven’t yet trained their ears and their voice.

If you were truly tone deaf you wouldn’t be able to tell one note from another, and all music would sound like a drone.

And if you were truly incapable of singing then you also wouldn’t be able to change your pitch when speaking and every sentence you spoke would sound like a monotone robot.

So singing is possible for you – and this is extremely important, whether you aspire to be “a singer” or not, because for any kind of musician your singing voice is the most powerful tool you have to train your ears and unlock your inner musicality.

There are two parts to singing: your voice and your ears. And both can be trained so that you can understand and reproduce pitch.

Discover more with Musicality Unleashed! http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

===============================================

Learn more about Musical U!

Website:
https://www.musical-u.com/

Podcast:
http://musicalitypodcast.com

Tone Deaf Test:
http://tonedeaftest.com/

Musicality Checklist:
https://www.musical-u.com/mcl-musicality-checklist

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MusicalU

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MusicalU

Subscribe for more videos from Musical U!

Singing Is Your Birthright [Musicality Unleashed]

New musicality video:

Learning music means learning to play songs or pieces – right? Actually, if you approach music that way you’re drastically limiting your musical potential. http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

Yet songs *can* hold the key to the most enjoyable and effective kind of music learning there is… How can that be?

Music education normally focuses purely on learning to reproduce songs on your instrument.

That can be satisfying at first but it quickly makes you start feeling like a robot rather than a real musician – painstakingly learning new pieces note-by-note and always worried about playing a wrong note.

At the other end of the spectrum you could focus purely on your “inner musician”, training your ears and brain to understand music on a deep level.

That’s really valuable and often it’s really helpful to rebalance things by including more of that kind of work in your music learning.

The problem is that kind of music theory and ear training is often taught with dry, abstract studies and exercises. You develop the understanding but it’s completely separate to the songs you’ve been learning to play and the real music you’re passionate about.

It can feel like you’re bending over backwards to connect the two worlds: of understanding musical concepts intellectually, and playing “real music”.

So how can you have the best of both worlds?

Discover more with Musicality Unleashed! http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

===============================================

Learn more about Musical U!

Website:
https://www.musical-u.com/

Podcast:
http://musicalitypodcast.com

Tone Deaf Test:
http://tonedeaftest.com/

Musicality Checklist:
https://www.musical-u.com/mcl-musicality-checklist

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MusicalU

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MusicalU

Subscribe for more videos from Musical U!

Don’t Just Learn Songs – Learn Music Through Songs [Musicality Unleashed]

New musicality video:

If you’re like most musicians, you’ve wanted to play by ear but found it didn’t come naturally to you. But what you might not have realised is that of the two major aspects of music, pitch and rhythm, it’s actually only the pitch that you really struggle with. http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

If you’ve been playing music for a while then the chances are good that your ability to mimic back a rhythm are actually really solid.

So you have the rhythm instinct – but could you write that down in notation? Or if you saw the rhythm notation, would you know how to clap it or play it?

There’s clearly a piece missing – and that’s having the right mental model to interpret and understand what you’re instinctively able to do.

What if we could put in place a mental model that let us leverage that instinctive understanding of rhythm to actually know exactly in terms of notation and note durations, what’s being played?

Discover more with Musicality Unleashed! http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

===============================================

Learn more about Musical U!

Website:
https://www.musical-u.com/

Podcast:
http://musicalitypodcast.com

Tone Deaf Test:
http://tonedeaftest.com/

Musicality Checklist:
https://www.musical-u.com/mcl-musicality-checklist

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MusicalU

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MusicalU

Subscribe for more videos from Musical U!

A Better Mental Model For Rhythm [Musicality Unleashed]

New musicality video:

If you want to play notes by ear you can learn to – but don’t follow the common advice: intervals are not the solution. http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

Learning to recognise notes by ear is a dream for many musicians: to hear music and be able to name, play, or write down the notes you heard.

This isn’t magic – it’s a learnable skill. And it doesn’t take an innate “gift” like “perfect pitch”.

You can develop what’s called your “relative pitch” using simple proven exercises.

If you want relative pitch to play by ear, write down music, improvise, or write your own music then there’s a approach that will get you there much faster and give you a much more reliable ability to recognise notes by ear.

It’s called “solfa” and you might have come across it as the “do-re-mi” system for naming notes.

http://www.musicalityunleashed.com

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Learn more about Musical U!

Website:
https://www.musical-u.com/

Podcast:
http://musicalitypodcast.com

Tone Deaf Test:
http://tonedeaftest.com/

Musicality Checklist:
https://www.musical-u.com/mcl-musicality-checklist

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MusicalU

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MusicalU

Subscribe for more videos from Musical U!

A Better Mental Model for Pitch [Musicality Unleashed]