Category: videos

New musicality video:

Syncopation is your secret portal to the world of intricate, complex rhythms that immediately add a spark of interest to the music they’re underlying. Since its inception, musicians from nearly every genre have dipped their toes into the syncopation pool, recognizing that great things happen when you play around with the beat of a song. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/rhythm-training-101-study-syncopation

So, you are listening to a hot jazz trio or your favorite metal band when you notice that the beat seems to be jumping all over the place. While the band seems to know where they are going, you are wondering, “Where’s the beat?”

The chances are that the band has left the comfortable land of boring rhythmic structure and is journeying into the exciting musical world of syncopation.

Though these may be uncharted, intimidating waters, they’re well-worth exploring! The concept of syncopation is, at its core, a simple one. Besides, if you’re not careful, music without syncopation can become a rhythmic snoozefest.

Read on for your introduction to how syncopation affects the feel of music, how to develop your ear for it, and how to apply it to your instrument to create your own songs with syncopation. Then, try our syncopation exercises to practice what you’ve learned!

Once you’ve really understood syncopation, try incorporating it into your music, whatever your instrument! If you are a vocalist, make up your own rhythms and vocal lines using nonsense syllables, like jazz scat singing. If you play the violin or another orchestral instrument, mess around with adding notes to these Latin rhythms or the other score examples in this post.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/rhythm-training-101-study-syncopation

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Get Rhythm: All About Syncopation

New musicality video:

In these heady days of universal musical access, singers can choose from a dizzying range of musical styles to sing. Singing in different genres can increase your vocal abilities and opportunities, but how do you know which styles best suit your own voice? https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-pick-the-perfect-song-to-fit-your-voice-5-tips/

It can take some time to figure out what songs will sound and feel really good with your own natural voice. If you keep in mind these five tips, your voice will stay healthy while you’re learning and growing in your identity as a singer.

1. The Shower Test
2. Home on the Range
3. Style and Comfort
4. Take it Easy
5. Ask Why

All the ins and outs of singing can take some time to learn. By choosing the right songs for your voice, you will be able to focus more attention on building your technique, strength and stamina without harming your voice. Since you’ll be more comfortable along the way, you’ll also have more fun.

So press that record button! Let your emotions guide you as you find your own style, and your “home on the range.” Take the easy road at first, and figure out why you really want to sing. Once you have taken these steps, you’ll find the songs that best express the natural treasures within you!

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-pick-the-perfect-song-to-fit-your-voice-5-tips/

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How To Pick The Perfect Song To Fit Your Voice

New musicality video:

Here are seven good reasons to learn a new instrument! https://www.musical-u.com/learn/seven-reasons-to-learn-a-new-instrument/

Why learn a new instrument? Although it might seem too soon if you haven’t yet mastered your first instrument, in fact there are a range of benefits which come from learning a second (or third!) instrument.

With all the instruments I have studied, I have never achieved the mastery that I have with the flute. Yet the music theory, new cultures, understanding of musical roles, rhythmic exploration and income opportunities gained along my multi-instrumental journey all enrich my flute playing immeasurably.

Even if we never master more than one instrument, learning additional instruments can teach us so much about music. Those lessons expand our playing on our primary instrument, teach us more about ourselves and about each other.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/seven-reasons-to-learn-a-new-instrument/

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Seven Reasons To Learn A New Instrument

New musicality video:

Ah, the age old question! Just what do music and business have to do with each other? Quite a bit, it turns out. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/musical-u-meets-music-launch-hub-part-1-practicing-music-practicing-business/

When Musical U founder Christopher Sutton recently appeared live on Steve Palfreyman’s Music Launch Hub – Mastermind Tribe, they discovered a lot of common ground between the best approaches for musicians to take when practicing, and when working on the business side.

https://musiclaunchhub.com/

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/musical-u-meets-music-launch-hub-part-1-practicing-music-practicing-business/

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How To Focus Your Music Practice: Interview with Music Launch Hub

New musicality video:

The Circle of Fifths is a mystery to many. But what if you found everything you ever needed to know and learn about musical pitch (every note, scale, chord, progressions, etc.) in a simple diagram that could fit in the palm of your hand?

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-use-circle-fifths

The Circle of Fifths is that magical musical master tool.

This learning device has endured for hundreds of years since its invention, and for good reason; there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Or, apparently, any other circular entity.

“But is it for me?”, you may ask.

Though the Circle of Fifths is most commonly understood as a component of classical music theory, it’s certainly not only for the hallowed halls of the conservatory. It’s a valuable tool for any musician of any musical background.

Our guide is the Circle of Fifths made easy – very little prior musical knowledge is required, but by the end of this article, you’ll not only understand the mechanics behind the circle, but also how to apply it in music theory, transposition, singing, songwriting, and more.

This incredibly powerful tool will take you far beyond simply understanding music theory – it will help you write music, predict chords in a progression, and understand relationships between major and minor keys. It will serve you well, regardless of whether you are a classical violinist, jazz saxophone player, a bassist in a rock band, or aspiring DJ.

So fasten your seatbelt: we’re diving deep into this infinite pool of musical wisdom. As you will soon see, the magical mojo of this Ring of Power surpasses even Tolkien’s imagination!

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-use-circle-fifths

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The Ultimate Guide to the Circle of Fifths

New musicality video:

Join our free live masterclass with improvisation expert Steve Lawson!

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

http://stevelawson.net/

Musical U Masterclass: The Improviser’s Mindset

New musicality video:

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/whats-new-musical-u-july-2017/

This month in Musical U we totally revamped the member homepage to provide a more useful “dashboard” of everything that’s important to you, and released new instrument Resource Packs on “Singing and Audiation”.

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What’s New in Musical U: July 2017

New musicality video:

Audiation may be a strange and unfamiliar word, but it means something you probably do every day: hear music in your head.
https://www.musical-u.com/learn/audiation-and-singing-resource-pack-preview/

From Musical U Guitar Resident Pro Dylan Welsh
https://www.dwelshmusic.com/

Learning to harness this skill and develop it can benefit you in a wide variety of ways on your instrument. Taken a step further, learning to sing what you hear or audiate creates a valuable bridge between your mind’s ear and what you play.

Building on his teaching in the Beginning Improvisation and Major Pentatonic Resource Packs, Resident Pro for guitar Dylan Welsh explains the usefulness of audiation and singing for a range of tasks you’re already doing in your guitar playing:

Including:

– Why singing and audiation are important for guitarists, even if you don’t feel confident in your voice.
– How to use audiation and singing to learn new melodies by ear.
– How to use the same technique for playing chords by ear.
– How audiation can help you memorise new songs faster.
– Using audiation and singing to improvise in a way that breaks free of fretboard patterns.
– Practice MP3s for playing melodies and chords by ear, and improvising.

As Dylan puts it: this is a powerful tool for pretty much anything you’re doing on guitar, so if you want better results faster, it’s time to audiate and use your voice.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/audiation-and-singing-resource-pack-preview/

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Guitar: Audiation (Resource Pack Preview)

New musicality video:

One of the most important skills you can learn with ear training is how to find the tonic of a given song or composition.
https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-find-the-tonic-of-any-song-in-a-major-key/

The tonic gives you information about how the music is organized, and tells you what chords it is likely rooted in. Also, if you get lost in a song and can’t understand what’s going on musically, using the tonic as a point of reference can help get you back on track!

Finding the tonic in sheet music is a fairly straightforward process; you have all the notes written out for you, and a key signature to help you out even further. But what if you don’t have sheet music? What about finding the tonic by ear?

Like any musical skill, being able to determine the tonic of any composition takes practice, practice, practice! Take the opportunity to closely listen for the tonic in every song you can, and soon enough, it will become second nature.

Ear training, and particularly interval ear training will definitely speed up this learning process; understanding the relationship that the tonic has with other notes in terms of pitch will go a long way in helping you develop the skill of tonic identification!

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-find-the-tonic-of-any-song-in-a-major-key/

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How to Find the Tonic of Any Song in Major

New musicality video:

Audiation may be a strange and unfamiliar word, but it means something you probably do every day: hear music in your head.
https://www.musical-u.com/learn/audiation-and-singing-resource-pack-preview/

Learning to harness this skill and develop it can benefit you in a wide variety of ways on your instrument. Taken a step further, learning to sing what you hear or audiate creates a valuable bridge between your mind’s ear and what you play.

Audiation is essential for singers in a number of ways, as Resident Pro for singing Clare Wheeler explains.

Including:
– Audiation lets you bring theory to life, judge and match pitch, stay in tune, and harmonise by ear.
– How audiation can be the difference between an amateur and a professional choir starting a piece.
– One simple exercise and a valuable insight to practice matching pitch dead-on, first time.
– How to stay in key and not drift during a piece.
– The usefulness of memorising a single reference pitch.
– How to start learning to harmonise by ear when singing

As musicians and music lovers we all audiate in one way or another, even if it’s just when an annoying song gets stuck in our head! Clare shows how even this is an opportunity to improve as a singer, and the myriad other ways audiation can transform your accuracy, confidence and creativity when singing.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/audiation-and-singing-resource-pack-preview/

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Singing: Audiation (Resource Pack Preview)