Speaking of Rhythm: What does “beat” really mean?
It seems like the shortest words have the longest definitions. When we look closer into the common word “beat,” we open a Pandora’s box of musical meaning.
Where did Klezmer come from? (with Paul Green)
Klezmer: the very word oozes funkiness. Where did this mysterious genre of Jewish music—half ecstatic dance, half mournful cry—come from? We spoke with one of Klezmer’s foremost 21st-century proponents, Paul Green, about the origins and development of the klezmer...
Hearing Chord Progressions: I, IV, V in Major Keys
Step by step, ear training produces magical results. Find out how to hear the foundational major key chord progressions, with fun examples and exercises.
Break Songwriter’s Block Using Reference Tracks
All song writers experience writer’s block at some stage. Learn about the powerful technique of using “reference tracks” to break through your blocks.
Exploring Classical Music: The Renaissance
During the flowering of humanistic culture, Renaissance masters wove tapestries of human voices into deep expressions of faith and playful tales of love.
Hearing Chord Progressions, Part 1: the Dominant and the Subdominant
Want to walk into any musical situation with the chord progression to any song? Learn to hear the movement of the chord roots and you’re well on your way.
Listen and Sing: Your Way to Great Musicianship, with Donna Schwartz
Music reading is often taught first. But when we learn first by ear, our musicality emerges much more easily. Singing connects listening with music-making.
The Lydian Scale: How a Minor Second Made a Major Difference
Compare the Lydian and major scales and awaken your sense of tonal gravity. Both Lydian and major reveal the nature of historic change past and present.
How to Hone Your Sense of Rhythm
Rhythm is an often-overlooked area of ear training but you can sharpen up your sense of rhythm with exercises and habits like these.
Inventing a Whole New Genre, with Tommy Darker
Tommy Darker has enlisted more than 100 Greek musicians to create a whole new genre with him. Find out how this musicpreneur thinks big and makes it happen.
PolyNome: Reinventing the Metronome, with Joe Crabtree
Drummer Joe Crabtree applies his creativity and discipline to the PolyNome app: the continual re-invention of the metronome into a mindblowing musical tool.
The Lydian Scale: Seeking The Ultimate Mysteries of Music
We may learn the Major scale as the most basic and fundamental – but there is good reason to consider the Lydian scale as the “sun” of the musical universe.
