For a musician, practicing the same things over and over again can get boring, especially when you feel like you are not making any progress. Fortunately scientists have now found a way to help you learn a new skill in half the time! Read the full article to find out how practicing a slightly modified version of the skill you want to learn is actually more effective than practicing the exact skill over and over.
With that in mind this week we have some great tutorials on polyrhythms and solfa, a tutorial on overcoming stage fright, an interview with the author of Beyond the Metronome and a preview of Musical U for guitarists, bassists and pianists.
This week Adele made the music headlines again after winning four awards at the UK’s Brit Awards 2016. We have previously discussed what it is that makes Adele such a success, but this video made me wonder if she would be as successful if she sang in one of these alternate styles.
Go Beyond the Metronome
Many musicians struggle with rhythm. Often when learning a new piece of music we focus more on what note we are playing rather than when we are playing it. I recently came across Mac Santiago a teacher and percussionist, who has developed a novel way to help people develop their sense of rhythm. Find out more about his book Beyond the Metronome and his top tips for becoming a better rhythm player in this interview.
While we are on the topic of rhythms, do you know what a polyrhythm is? Western music normally involves rhythms where the notes align neatly on a set timeline. However, music from Africa and Asia often contains more complex rhythms known as polyrhythms. Explore different examples of polyrhythms and learn how to count and play them with these exercises in Introduction to Polyrhythms.
How Musical U helps Guitarists, Bassists, Pianists… and you?
If you are looking for some guidance and a community to help you with your musical goals, look no further than Musical U! It offers 40 training modules covering 9 key topics, and a helpful community to answer your questions and help you stay on track. But does it include what you need to become a more natural confident musician? In order to help you decide if Musical U is the right fit for you we have published a preview of how it helps guitarists, pianists and bassists specifically.
Also don’t miss the latest member spotlight, with member Kokonuht, a music student from Singapore who has made great progress using Musical U to learn solfege, intervals and chord progressions to help his singing and harmonising.
Solfa and the Score
This week saw the publication of the first article of our new series, Solfa and the Score. In the weeks ahead these tutorials will be helping you to connect the syllables used in solfa with the notes on the staff when sight-singing or transcribing. The first tutorial, Pozzoli and the Spoken Solfeggio, starts with a background of this method developed by Italian pianist Pozzoli and some easy introductory exercises to help you start internalising the solfa syllables.
How to Overcome Stage Fright
Most musicians will suffer from stage fright at some point in their life. However, you don’t need to accept it as an inevitable part of performing. There are ways you can help alleviate this anxiety and even turn it into a beneficial experience. Read on to find out how to overcome stage fright and say goodbye to those sweaty palms and trembling knees.
Now that you are equipped with music resources and the know how-to learn these new skills twice as fast, I will leave you with my favourite quote from the Easy Ear Training facebook page this week.
Posted by Easy Ear Training on Tuesday, February 23, 2016
