Author: admin

Some musicians feel as if they must constantly learn new music. This is despite the fact that they might not be professional musicians.

This is for the reason that abandoning a music piece after you’ve just learnt it isn’t a good idea. Of course, you’ll miss the best part: mastering the piece and giving it your touch. This is the best part since you will make it yours!

Now, there’s nothing wrong with learning music. But it’s important to take the pieces that you’ve learnt to a whole new level. In other words, make one of them your signature or forever piece.

Which begs the question: What is a signature piece?

It’s a piece that you’ve learned well, have fallen in love with and enjoy playing for family and friends too. No matter what it is, you are ‘associated’ with the piece.

In fact, your friends and family might be reminded of you whenever they hear it. In some situations, they might even call it ‘your piece’.

One way to know to find out which is your signature piece is what you play whenever you’re near an instrument of your choice.

Alternatively, a forever piece has more value to a musician than merely for the purpose of performance. That piece will make you feel that its composer has written it for you.

In some sense, it brings happiness and peace into your Life while also being a piece that you will play often but never the same twice.

So, there should always be two pieces that musicians should always keep in mind. One, that you have confidence in performing and second, a piece that will give you comfort and peace when playing it.

Memorization is a part of the any type of learning. This could be the multiplication tables or even history facts.

This is no different when mastering an instrument. You need to memorize note names, position of each note on the staff and on the instrument.

In fact, playing a music piece requires one to use their memorization powers. But not everyone equal when it comes to memory powers.

For that matter, playing music for the first time in front of an audience can be scary. One should think twice before attempting such a feat. If there is no choice, then it is best to practice twice as much.

Finally, it all depends on whether you are comfortable or not. This depends on whether the piece is easy to memorize too. It just depends on the individual’s abilities.

Having said that, here are 4 benefits to memorizing music:

1: Once you memorize a piece, you can focus on technique. In other words, you can focus on playing the music better.

2: In the instance where you have to perform on the spot, you won’t need sheet music. This is especially true if you need to play impromptu at social gatherings.

3: Memorizing music helps you improve finger or hand positions on your given instrument. This is because you aren’t looking at sheet music but are aware of where your fingers are.

4: Finally, it helps you improve aural memory. Given the situation where you get distracted, you won’t need sheet music. You’ll be able to play the piece without any music aid.

Mastering an instrument isn’t easy. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication and persistence.

Yet the benefits of mastering an instrument can be great. So, here are 5 tips to consider when learning the instrument you’ve picked:

1: Observe Proper Posture

Good posture helps you to play music better. Sitting or standing, it’s vital to find the right position along with your instrument. Not only will this avoid strain but also prevent back or neck pains.

2: Use Add-ons and Accessories Where Necessary

Certain add-ons and accessories make playing your instrument easier. First of all, ensure that the instrument you pick is right for you. Check the size, shape or weight. Also, accessories can make your Life easier. Some of these include lighter strings, cushioned stools or simple straps.

3: Work on proper fingering techniques

The best way to have proper fingering technique is to not develop bad ones. Before you play your musical instrument, ensure you develop correct positioning and playing techniques. Ensure you do your homework before you begin playing your instrument.

4: Keep practicing

It’s one thing to practice to perfection. It’s another thing to practice your instrument in the right way. Most people balk at the idea of practice because it seems so boring. That said, teachers now use method and practice books that help you enjoy practice. This will aid you in practicing every day.

5: Develop sight-reading

Sight-reading is being able to read a piece of sheet music with ease. It’s like reading a book. If it comes without effort, then this can work to your goal of mastering an instrument.

Gone are the days when you could only use instruments to make music. Now you can do just about anything with the right software on a computer.

Despite that, it can still be daunting to produce music especially if you are just starting off. Having said that, here are 5 tips for beginners in music production:

#1: First and foremost, read the manuals for the sequencers. Everything that you read will come in handy sooner than you think. Better still: take them wherever you go and read them as much as possible during your spare time.

#2: Avoid buying too much software as this will confuse you and result in not having enough time to master it all. Also, you will end up missing on important things that can make a real difference to making good music.

#3: Simplicity is paramount to being a music producer. Don’t rush to install every free plug-in that you get. Instead, make sure you use only the good ones by taking recommendations from friends and fellow producers.

#4: A very important aspect of making good music is picking a quiet spot. Apart from this, it should be comfortable enough minus all the usual distractions. Better still, it should be as far away from other people so as to prevent them from complaining about the noise.

#5: The best tool to be used when mixing is a set of monitor speakers. Don’t buy them on the cheap as it will not help the final output of your work. If you’re short on funds, make sure you save enough so that you can buy the best set available.

Whether you are a parent looking for a music school for your child or for that matter, looking to further music education, there are a number of prestigious schools in the United States.

That said, here are 4 reputed music schools in the United States:

#1: Berkelee School of Music

Founded by Lawrence Berk in 1945, Berkelee is one of the leading schools with over 3000 students. There are a number of interesting majors such as Music Therapy, Songwriting, Contemporary Writing and Production and Music Management/Business.

#2: Juilliard School

Being one of the most recognized schools in the United States, it started in 1905 as the Institute of Musical Art but was changed to the Juilliard School of Music as its name was changed in 1946. Its students study dance, drama and music while its name has been changed to just Juilliard School.

#3: Jacobs School of Music

Without a doubt, this is one of the finest schools in the United States with a student population of about 1600 students. Known earlier as the Indiana University School of Music, it was renamed as the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. The William & Gayle Cook Music Library is famous for being a notable facility for its students and having almost 600000 items.

#4: Eastman School of Music

The Eastman School of Music opened in 1924 and welcomed 124 students. Today, the school has 500 undergraduates apart from 400 graduate students enrolling for its courses. In fact, it receives about 2000 student applications.

For a number of years, researchers and scientists have found that people who learn an instrument also do very well in academics as well and in areas such as attention skills, reading, vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning.

However, the only question that remains is why these students enjoy such an advantage.

For this, Nina Kraus, a director at the Auditory Neuroscience Lab, is studying how music works with the brain’s plasticity or adaptiveness so as to help students become better readers as well as students too, regardless of socioeconomic status.

This advantage until now has been difficult to study since most music classes are one-on-one and available to students of a high socioeconomic status. So, it has been difficult to find out whether it was the music that affected their ability to study better or some other unrelated factor.

However, despite this doubt, Kraus is certain of music’s benefit to one’s academics. She believes that even though reading is not an auditory activity (while music and language skills depend on auditory processing), the need to map speech sounds from incoming auditory input to orthographic representations plays a key role so as to read better.

In fact, a number of children who have language and learning impairments tend to perform much better when they receive music training of music-based interventions.

To prove whether this work with high school children, Kraus and her colleagues split a group of students from an inner-city Chicago school by placing one half in a music training program while the other half was in a Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Course.

After two years, it was found that the students in the former group were quicker to respond to speech-in-noise stimulus that also proved that their brains had adapted and improved. Without a doubt, the music training program had made a difference!

Almost every musician that you meet runs into periods when practicing their instrument reaches a grinding halt.

While it’s only time until you find the inspiration to begin practicing again, there are other ways to ensure that you pick up the pace sooner rather than later.

Of course, a number of teachers would have their students repeat a piece of music up until boredom, which leads to mediocrity, will set in.

Rote practicing is hardly the way to go when it comes practicing music at all even if this might come across as blatantly challenging methods that have been used for years, decades and centuries.

If there’s anything that’s true, it is the fact that practicing a song about 20 times until you get better and better at it will just not work. In other words, when you play a piece repeatedly just for the sake of repetition, this will hardly help you master it at all.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you don’t repeat playing certain exercises and songs but just that you do it with a completely different mindset. That’s all!

That said, the key to really improving when you practice a music piece repeatedly is focus your effort on a small part of the piece until you perfect. After this, you can ‘add on’ a new set of notes and then perfect that sequence of notes as well.

And keeping this mind, you have to remember that you have to keep listening to how the piece (group of notes as mentioned earlier) sounds each time you play.

Ultimately, effective music practice involves thinking about how you approach perfecting a song or scale.

For good reason, music is considered to be a universal language. Without a doubt, it is considered to be beneficial for children too. And which is why it would be a good idea to let your child learn to play an instrument.

Here are 4 clear reasons why children should learn to play an instrument of their choice:

#1: Confidence Builder

When children discover that they can develop a skill on their own and even get better at it, their confidence improves greatly. So, this clearly points to learning an instrument being a clear confidence builder.

#2: Contributes to their social skills

When children become part of a social group so as to learn musical skills, it will help them come out of their shell. Apart from this, they will also learn how to work as a team, relate with one another as well as develop discipline and leadership skills. This is especially so when they play as part of a musical ensemble or orchestra.

#3: Teaches patience

When you play as a musician in a group, you have to develop patience so as to play your parts at the right time. If you do not develop this, then the music you play will sound like noise or out of sync. It’s obvious that you need patience and work together as a group in order to play music.

#4: Improves brain power

Studies have shown that there is a direct co-relation between learning a musical instrument and the improvement of brainpower. In fact, when children are exposed to music, their academic grades tend to improve greatly. This is for the reason that music stimulates music, math and emotional development.

Just about anyone who has listened to a lot of pop on the radio would have realized that a lot of pop music actually sounds much the same.

In fact, a recent study has reached the conclusion that pop music has become more and more homogenous and they also know why.

This study which surveyed almost 500000 albums across a number of genres, concluded that simplicity sells best and which is why it “dumbs down and becomes formulaic”.

Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna actually came to this conclusion by studying almost 15 genres and 374 subgenres while comparing their complexity to that genre’s sales. It was found that complexity turns people off, thanks to genres such as alternative rock, experimental and hip-hop becoming complex.

If that’s not enough, very few genres have been able to retain a level of complexity over time. As for the one that do, such as experimental music, folk and folk rock, aren’t the best earners in the business.

Without a doubt, the study’s findings hit the nail on the head since we crave familiarity and which is why it’s isn’t surprising that Top 40 stations throughout the United States have played the 10 biggest songs twice as much as compared to 10 years ago.

The music industry understands this best and caters to this cravings for particular sounds and which is why we also end up listening to similar sounding songs over and over again.

Of course, all this changes once we’re tired of it and the space opens up for something completely out of the ordinary. Yet this points to the need that we should deliberately, no doubt, think about supporting original rather than blindly listening to formulaic music.