L'attirail

At its core, Music Theory is the study of the written music notes. It is the understanding of the dots and scribbles that make up written music, and the ability to effectively translate them into sounds.

An understanding of theory really helps musicians, not because it makes them play better, but because it helps them communicate better with other muscians.

So how do you teach it? how do you get across the important parts of it, without overwhelming or boring the student?

I’ve come up with three important concepts which can help in this area.

Critical Concept #1 – Start with the sound, then the theory.

One thing that nearly all music teachers agree with is that music should start first with sound, and then move onto written understanding. In practice that means we should always introduce something with a sound, then explan why it is the way it is. For example if teaching chords it is very important for a student to understand firstly what a major or minor chord sounds like, the emotion that it is conveying and the reasons why a major or minor chord might be chosen for a particular situation. Once they can hear the sound, and its reason for being the mechanical knowledge will come.

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Critical Concept #2 – Try to understand one thing at a time  Read more...

The world we inhabit is a very modern one as technology is progressing at great speeds. There is a host of benefits associated with this trend and all the more so for musicians because they can acquire valuable musical instruments, recording studio equipment as well as recording software that are reasonably priced. Should you be interested in putting together music records for yourself or others then you are not required to go to a professional recording studio because you can put together a similar system at home.

Creating your individual home recording studio requires an attentive work plan to ensure that you acquire all your recording equipment that fits the finances you have set aside for this task. Bear in mind that you don’t need to buy all new studio equipment because you can get good deals via second hand stores. Not all people discard their equipment because it fails to function; instead they prefer to get later models. You can buy excellent recording equipment that is in working order if you put aside adequate time to search for it. The online world provides the ideal opportunity to get musical instruments and studio equipment due to a number of people using it as an advertising tool.

A lot of people don’t handle their cables properly and they have to because getting new ones comes with substantial costs. Keep the cables tidy and hidden away so that they remain in good condition to ensure their rubber seals are intact.  Read more...

Learn jazz piano without spending too much money on piano lessons. Believe it or not, you can actually learn how to play the piano even without undergoing formal schooling on this musical instrument. Many people may feel hesitant about learning piano all by themselves, but there have been many piano players who actually started out by learning the instrument on their own. While it is true that kids are able to learn how to play the piano faster, there is actually no age limit as to who can learn how to hit the piano keys. Although, you have to understand that the older you get, the more effortful would piano lessons be for you. Be prepared to spend some time before you can play like a professional jazz pianist.

If you decide to learn how to play jazz piano at home and on your own pace, you would still need to have some form of structured piano lessons. This will ensure that you will be successful in your quest to become a jazz pianist. Following modules and ordered sets of piano lessons will make your learning more effective. At the start of your piano training, you have to focus on the basics. Jazz can be a very challenging music genre. You have to know the notes and chords for you to be able to play all sorts of rhythms.  Read more...

There are lots of guitar lessons available online . Some of the websites that expect you to pay for courses have free videos for you to start. Acoustic guitar lessons regularly target fingering open chords or demonstrate strumming patterns but today i will be ready to target the right hand system for acoustic guitar playing, to attempt to bring some difference to your technique.
The electrical guitar player has a selection of electronic effects to help him demonstrate his feelings and musical ideas, but the acoustic guitar player has only his right hand.
So, changing the focus from most free acoustic guitar lessons, we are going to look at some methods of working with the right hand to allow it to become more expressive and to offer you more control over your picking and strumming, this is not as tough to achieve as you may think, with a little concentration you can excel at the techniques needed.

First, I should say something that if you are new to the acoustic guitar lessons, you may not know about : if you attempt to play fast, you may very definitely lose volume, something I bet you do not want.

To add volume to fast passages, its very straight forward you have to add force to your picking or strumming. This doesn’t mean you need to tense your right arm. You can simply slow down your playing and focus on precision.  Read more...

Primarily, a music teacher’s task lies in the idea of effective and creative communication. Thus, credibility and reliability have always been an issue to academic institutions, their teaching and non-teaching personnel and even the student body.

Music teachers simultaneously motivate, inspire, and support their students through innovative music teachers resources. Whether these resources and tips are from the experiences of other teaching individuals, educators, academes or from the internet, what important is you are able to meet your goals and stay committed to your purpose.

When you make use of effective music teachers resources and tips, you are more likely to gain the interests of your students – encouraging them to love music more. As you become good influences and examples to them, they not just tend to love music as one of their subjects but they also have come to love you as their mentors and icons.

I have here a list of different feedbacks, compliments and even suggestions of the students when a group of music educators have rendered effective music teaching strategies and have executed creative activities.  Read more...