As Halloween approaches this year we’ll all be surrounded by spooky tunes, haunted melodies and scary soundtracks. As a musician you might find yourself wondering: what makes that music so Halloween-y? https://www.musical-u.com/learn/5-ways-to-make-your-songs-spooky-for-halloween/
Wonder no more! Whether you’re a budding song-writer or film composer, want to improvise some suitably scary sounds during October, or just wish you understood why the music you hear does (or doesn’t) sound like a horror show, here are 5 tried-and-tested ways to add some spook to music.
As a song-writer or composer there’s a wide range of tools and techniques at your disposal for creating scary-sounding music. Explore and learn, train your ears, and listen carefully whenever you hear a great example of Halloween music.
Then, when it comes time to write music of your own choose wisely which elements to use in which amounts and you’ll be able to craft anything from a simple, gently-spooky background track to a powerful dramatic theme for the latest Hollywood horror hit.
Have you ever worried that you’re “tone deaf” or can’t sing? Or do you have a friend or family member who just can’t seem to sing in tune or in key? In today’s podcast episode we’re joined by a true expert who’s had some phenomenal results helping those who “can’t sing” to start singing in tune. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/learning-sing-tune-george-bevan/
George was someone we reached out to when doing research a few years back for our Tone Deaf Test and SingTrue projects at Musical U.
Throughout his teacher career, George repeatedly found himself faced with students who just couldn’t seem to hold a tune and were reluctant to get involved in choir. He started “experimenting” with how to help them, and now with his “Music at Monkton” blog he regularly shares insights, techniques and triumphs as he goes about his work teaching music and leading choirs at a secondary school in the United Kingdom.
In this episode George shares:
– The most important lessons he learned from entering music contests as a child
– What can sometimes be missing from choirs – and the power of putting it in place
– How he helped just a couple – and then a whole horde – of shy teenagers to “calibrate” their voices and go from thinking they’re tone deaf to singing capably and confidently in front of people.
– The specific three-part approach George uses to create this transformation.
If you’ve ever wondered if you’re tone deaf or thought you just “can’t sing” – or if you’re a teacher who has faced people who feel that way and wanted to help them – this episode is one not to be missed!
Once you can pretty reliably play “the right notes”, what sets a good musician apart from a great one? Without a doubt, one crucial skill is rhythmic precision. A sloppy or unreliable sense of the beat will quickly distinguish an amateur from a pro. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/rhythmic-precision-resource-pack-preview/
In this month’s Instrument Packs our Resident Pros tackled this topic of rhythmic precision, and specifically from a musicality angle. So not so much “how do you get your fingers to do what you intend, at precisely the right time?” but more “how do you develop your inner sense of the beat and ability to bring your own expressiveness to your rhythmic playing?”
Once you can pretty reliably play “the right notes”, what sets a good musician apart from a great one? Without a doubt, one crucial skill is rhythmic precision. A sloppy or unreliable sense of the beat will quickly distinguish an amateur from a pro. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/rhythmic-precision-resource-pack-preview/
In this month’s Instrument Packs our Resident Pros tackled this topic of rhythmic precision, and specifically from a musicality angle. So not so much “how do you get your fingers to do what you intend, at precisely the right time?” but more “how do you develop your inner sense of the beat and ability to bring your own expressiveness to your rhythmic playing?”
Once you can pretty reliably play “the right notes”, what sets a good musician apart from a great one? Without a doubt, one crucial skill is rhythmic precision. A sloppy or unreliable sense of the beat will quickly distinguish an amateur from a pro. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/rhythmic-precision-resource-pack-preview/
In this month’s Instrument Packs our Resident Pros tackled this topic of rhythmic precision, and specifically from a musicality angle. So not so much “how do you get your fingers to do what you intend, at precisely the right time?” but more “how do you develop your inner sense of the beat and ability to bring your own expressiveness to your rhythmic playing?”
We’re going to give you a simple yet very effective exercise to get you started and lay down the foundation for learning to pitch and sing in tune. http://musicalitypodcast.com/13
Today we’re going to talk about finding “your note”. This is an exercise which George Bevan from the Music@Monkton blog developed, to help people who think they can’t sing to take their first steps to becoming a capable and confident singer. We talked about it in our recent interview here on the podcast.
If you’ve ever worried that you can’t sing at all, or you have a friend who’s convinced they’re tone deaf, the exercise I’m going to explain will be really useful for you.
I first spoke to George a few years back when we were developing SingTrue, our interactive app to help you learn to sing. I was so impressed by his approach we implemented his idea of “Finding Your Note” as one of the first exercises inside the app – and since then almost half a million people have used it to find their note and take their first step to singing.
It is a simple exercise – but it’s powerful.
http://musicalitypodcast.com/13
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As a musician, you desperately want to improve on your instrument. In this video, we’re going to propose a better, different way to practice that will produce more measurable results and prevent you from losing so much progress. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/why-youre-not-making-progress-instrument-fix-it/
It’s so frustrating. As a musician, you desperately want to make progress on your instrument. You put in hours in the practice room, working your fingers (or lips) until they’re raw. You feel like Miles Teller in Whiplash, playing until blood drips from your bloodied hands.
And by the end of practice, you feel like you’ve made progress. You’re moving more quickly over your runs, scales, and arpeggios. Your movements are fluid, you don’t stumble, and you feel like you could play the part in your sleep.
But then something happens…
You come to the practice room the next day, and it’s as if you didn’t practice at all. Your fingers are sluggish. You stumble and stagger over lines you nailed the previously day. It’s almost as if you didn’t practice. As if your brain has forgotten everything you learned.
It drives you nuts. Makes you want to quit. Makes you want to set your instrument on fire, Jimi Hendrix style. Is there something wrong with you? Are you not as good as other musicians? Is this struggle normal?
We’ve got some really good news. The struggle is real. Every musician encounters it. Every musician finds themselves losing the progress they made in the practice room. The problem isn’t you…
So what is the problem? It’s the way you (and most musicians) practice. Which means, of course, that you can solve the problem by changing the way you practice. There is a solution, and it’s not particularly complicated.
In this post, we’re going to propose a better, different way to practice that will produce more measurable results and prevent you from losing so much progress.
Additionally, we’ll give you a few other suggestions to optimize your practice time for maximum forward momentum.
Have you ever wondered if professional musicians have some special ability that helps them be creative, improve faster and be somehow immune to performance anxiety? Today on the podcast we’re joined by Gerald Klickstein from MusiciansWay.com, author of a ground-breaking book which is widely respected in the world of music education. musicalitypodcast.com/10
More about Gerald at: https://www.musiciansway.com/
Written as a handbook for the aspiring professional musician it’s packed with insights and strategies that can actually empower any musician. It tackles some of the most confusing and frustrating problems that musicians face, regardless of their instrument, musical style or career aspirations.
Topics like: how to design your practice to actually achieve results quickly and consistently. How to gain confidence to perform, even if it terrifies you. And how to nurture your creativity and collaborate well with other musicians.
The book reveals the hidden areas which professional musicians benefit from for learning, playing and performing – but which are generally left out of traditional instrument lessons.
Gerald has extensive experience as a teacher including on the faculty of several US universities – but the book isn’t based only on his own ideas and opinions. It’s evidence-based, meaning he’s drawing on a wide body of research and sharing what has been proven to work.
In this conversation Gerald shares:
One unorthodox but incredibly valuable piece of advice on how to choose the exercises and pieces you work on.
A simple but effective way for anybody to overcome performance anxiety using a practical process, as well as a really useful framework for thinking about what’s causing your anxiety when it arises.
A great tip for anyone who’s wanted to record themselves playing but found it a really intimidating and stressful experience.
Plus how the experts take full advantage of their “musical autopilot” – but without leaving themselves prone to performance freeze-ups due to relying on it.
If you’ve ever struggled to make your practice time deliver real results, or you’ve had any anxiety around performing music then you’re going to love this episode and how it opens your mind in new and useful ways.
musicalitypodcast.com/10
More about Gerald at: https://www.musiciansway.com/
Don’t miss the upcoming episode of the The Musicality Podcast with special guest Sara Campbell from https://sarasmusicstudio.com/
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Let us know what you think! Email: hello@musicalitypodcast.com
You’ve probably heard the advice that recording yourself during music practice can help you learn and improve faster. There are three big reasons to do it but recording your playing or singing can be scary! Fortunately you can make it easy. Learn how in this episode. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/learning-faster-by-recording-music-practice/
Links and Resources:
Interview with Gerald Klickstein: https://www.musical-u.com/learn/musical-success-with-ease-with-gerald-klickstein/
Contact the show – record a quick message!: https://www.musical-u.com/podcast-contact/
Today we’re going to be talking about why to record yourself during practice – and how to make it easy and enjoyable.
In my recent interview with Gerald Klickstein we talked about overcoming performance anxiety and making your playing more musical – and one technique he strongly recommended was to record yourself.
We talked briefly about how to make this easy, since so many musicians hate the idea of recording themselves playing or singing. But I wanted to unpack it in a bit more detail today because it’s one of those techniques that can really accelerate your progress – but is easy to overlook or shy away from.
So we’re going to talk a bit about why you might want to record yourself, then how to do it in terms of technology, and then what you can do to actually make it easy and not get caught up in mental negativity or anxiety when it comes to recording or listening back.