Listen Close: "Pagan Poetry" by Björk
Find out what makes “Pagan Poetry” by Björk such a special track, and how you can use it to improve your musical listening skills through ear training.
Open Your Ears to the Music of Björk
Few artists are as creatively experimental as Björk, which makes her music the ideal exploration ground when stretching and improving your musical ears.
How to Learn Like a Genius, with Gregg Goodhart
Gregg Goodhart of the Learn Like a Genius project applies the latest research on how the human brain learns most effectively to music practice.
The Aural Illusions of the Locrian Mode
Discover the rare and enigmatic Locrian mode, what gives it its unique, chilling sound, where to hear it in music, and why you should use it.
About the Moods of Modes
How can we understand, hear, and improvise with the seven musical modes? In this episode, we discuss an easy ear-based approach to working with modes.
The Many Moods of Musical Modes
Enter the exciting, nuanced world of the seven musical modes with our guide to understanding, building, and using these expressive scales.
Why You’re Not Making Progress On Your Instrument… and How To Fix It
Why does it feel like you lose so much progress on your musical instrument? You practice for hours, then forget most of it. Here’s a new way to practice that can solve your problem.
Hearing Harmony, Teaching Guitar, Tension and Release with Chord Progressions
When we listen actively, harmony, melody, scales—everything from guitar fretboards to cruise ship career opportunities—reveal their secrets for us to use.
What Does Music Look Like?
Sound wave vibrations rearrange grains and fluids into fascinating visual patterns, which have engaged the attention of scientists, artists, and mystics.
Songwriter’s Secrets: First Steps in Song Writing
The first step to writing a new song is getting the lyrics down. Try these exercises and tips for finding inspiration and widening your rhyming vocabulary.
Open Your Ears to 60×60
In the Open Your Ears series we cover a wide range of music: from opera to electronica, from Björk to Tuvan throat singing. (seriously, if you haven’t heard about throat singing, you’re missing out!) But if you want to have your mind blown away minute-by-minute...
A Cappella for Ear Training: What? Why?
What is a cappella ear training and why should you be using a cappella music for your own ear training even if you don’t sing? Find out in this article.
