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https://www.musical-u.com/learn/learning-by-repetition-how-musicians-can-improve-with-looping/
It’s easy to get stuck in a rut with your musical training. If you need something to jump start your musical training, you may want to try incorporating looping into your practice. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/learning-by-repetition-how-musicians-can-improve-with-looping/

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-develop-your-new-songs-theme/
What is the theme to your next musical masterpiece? Musical U takes you through an exploration into musical themes. And you you can develop a theme that your listener will love! ♬ https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-develop-your-new-songs-theme/

Do you want to become a piano virtuoso? Get signed to a record label? Write some unforgettable songs?

No matter what your goal, this week, Musical U has something for you.

Learn about one teacher’s own learning journey in music, and his fresh take on learning an instrument as an adult. Read the fascinating story of a woman who went from an underage club-hopper at New York’s legendary  CGBG to fronting her own bands and enjoying a successful solo career. And, give your songwriting a kick by learning the 12-bar blues in all their beauty and versatility.

The Art of Learning Music

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference: it may sound cliché, but in the case of learning music, it is very true and definitely worth remembering.

This week, the Musicality Podcast interviews a man with a very refreshing attitude towards learning and teaching music. Bill Hilton may have started in classical piano, but his scope has expanded to cover everything from pop and rock to cocktail piano. His open attitude to genres and to styles of learning music are evident in his book, How To Really Play The Piano, and his YouTube channel of helpful music tutorials.

Read a truly eye-opening interview that reveals one piano teacher’s own learning journey, the hidden advantage adults have in learning music, and the secret to playing creatively and expressively over at How To Really Play Music, with Bill Hilton.

Bill is fascinated with cocktail piano and has learned to change any piece of music into this gorgeous, loungy style. Ready to learn the secrets of musical transformation? Bill has created a tutorial to set you on your way – no alcohol required!

One of the difficulties that musicians face during their journey is frustration at their progress. This can be especially true for adult learners. If you need some motivation to get your musical passion back, My Music Masterclass has some fantastic advice to get you back in the practice room.

Even the most inspired musician can have difficulty fitting in their practice goals. Life seems to get in the way and redirect us towards other things. 10 Minute Jazz Lesson shows how to schedule your practice throughout the week.

Bill expressed his frustration with music education and how some teachers approach the musical journey. If you are like many of our readers, you’ve already likely experienced both good and bad teachers. With so many resources online, it is easier to find a teacher who is the right fit for your musical needs. Merriam Music shares some helpful tips for assessing an online music teacher.

At the end of the day, remember that making music is supposed to be fun! To branch out your musical expression, you may want to try picking up the… Melodica?

Sit back and enjoy this exploration into this unique instrument from Melodica Men.

A Musical Life

CBGB – the birthplace of New York’s rock, folk and punk music. Imagine hanging out there as a teenager, then as a punk singer, landing an international modelling contract, getting a degree in dance, starting a band, having a successful solo career, and becoming a prolific songwriter in multiple genres – all in one lifetime.

Diane Mozzone has done all this and much, much more. In a detailed interview with Musical U, she details her incredible career, her songwriting process, and her newfound love for metal music. She also shares her revelations on succeeding in a cutthroat industry, and the key to effective self-promotion as an artist.

This is one interview you won’t want to miss. Head over to Carving Out a Career in Music, with Diane Mozzone for a fascinating story of music scenes, band dynamics, and a solo career spanning everything from punk to house music.

During her career, Diane experienced a situation that many vocalists will face: the effects of too much strain on her vocal chords. While she was able to get the help she needed, there are regular news stories of famous singers that never fully recover. If you sing, you need to take care of your vocal apparatus – let Vocal Splendor teach you how!

Success as a singer can be a difficult path for any musician. Taking your music out of the practice room and onto the stage can be intimidating for even the most confident musician. If you need some practical tips to take the next step, the Gig Gab Podcast discusses gaining confidence in front of the microphone.

Throughout her career, Diane expressed herself in many different genres of music. However, she also discussed the importance of focusing in on one genre when composing a collection of songs. Youbloom explores specializing in a genre of music as a songwriter… and what to do after you have your songs ready to go.

Diane left us with the advice of defining what success means to you. It certainly is not the same for every musician, nor should it be. Ari’s Take discusses how to define your own success in your musical journey.

Getting the Blues

Not only are the blues a rich, fascinating genre in their own right, but their enormous influence is heard in today’s pop, rock, country, folk, and more.

So, what do many of the earliest blues songs have in common with the bluesy rock tunes we have today?

That would be the 12-bar blues, a simple three-chord progression that turns out to be a very effective musical storyteller.

To learn how to play the 12-bar blues and explore what makes this simple progression so powerful, head over to About the 12-Bar Blues for your introduction!

One practical outcome from learning the 12-bar blues: it’s a great tool for helping you to develop confidence in a new style of music. Many even use this chord progression to help with their improvisation skills. If you want to develop confidence as a musician, Donna Schwartz will show you how!

It’s no secret that the Musical U team is particularly enamored with the ukulele. For such a compact instrument, there’s so much that it can do! While we typically think of the piano, bass, or guitar for playing the 12-bar blues, perhaps it is time to consider the seemingly endless possibilities of the uke! Explore the 12-bar blues on your uke with Ukulele Underground!

After you are comfortable with the structure of the 12-bar blues, it’s time to spice it up with some variations. One way to do that is by using approach chords to add interest and variety! Swift Lessons talks about approach chords and shows how they can add new life to your chord progressions.

We’ll wrap up this exploration into 12-bar blues by incorporating a staple of blues music. The harmonica can be a fun tool to expand your musical exploration! Even famous players like Neil Young and Billy Joel made steady use of the instrument during their storied careers. Bring the harmonica to your 12-bar practice with this lesson from Tomlin Harmonica Lessons!

Learning and Creating

Whether Bill’s interview made you want to try out cocktail piano or Diane’s story has inspired you to pursue songwriting, we hope the unique musical journeys and achievements of these two individuals will serve to motivate you.

The post The Art of Learning Music, A Musical Life, and Getting the Blues appeared first on Musical U.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/the-best-ear-training-method/
“What is the best method for practicing ear training?” We hear this question a lot within Musical U and explore the many ways to train your ears in this article. Find your path today! https://www.musical-u.com/learn/the-best-ear-training-method/

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-prepare-for-the-big-audition-part-1/
Audition season is right around the corner! 😖 Not to worry, here at Musical U we have explored how you need to prepare for the big day. Learn more in part 1 of this journey to audition day! https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-prepare-for-the-big-audition-part-1/

Without the 12-bar blues, we wouldn’t have rock ‘n’ roll… or, come to think of it, much of the Western music we have today! In this episode of the Musicality Podcast, we’ll look at the simple chord progression that comprises the 12-bar blues, how to play it in any key, and how the 12-bar blues can be used as a powerful songwriting tool (and not just by blues musicians!).

Listen to the episode:

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Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

Links and Resources

• Interview with Bill Hilton
• About the I, IV, V, and vi Chords
• Finding Chords in Scales
• Playlist of songs that use the 12-bar blues
• Introduction to Blues

Transcript

Today we’re going to be talking about the “12-bar blues”. This was mentioned in our recent interview with Bill Hilton, author of How to Really Play the Piano – but what we’ll discuss today matters whether or not you play piano – or blues!

You may have heard of the “12 bar blues” before and have a vague idea of what it is. In this episode I’m going to talk about what exactly it is, where you’ll hear it, and why it’s worth knowing about, even if you don’t like the blues.

What it is

The “12-bar blues” is a simply a particular chord progression which is 12 bars long.

It’s helpful to think of it as being arranged into 3 lines, each of 4 bars.

It uses just the I, IV and V chords – and if you don’t know what I mean by that please check out episode 33 about the “one, four, five and six” chords. It actually tends to use the V7 chord instead of the plain V, which just means that it adds a fourth note to the chord, which is note seven above the root. For simplicity I’m going to be saying just “five” as I continue, but keep in mind it’s normally actually a 7th chord, not a regular major chord like the I and the IV.

For example, if we’re in C Major, then our three chords for the 12-bar blues are going to be:
– C Major: C, E and G
– F Major: F, A and C
– G7: G, B, D and F

The 12-bar blues is just a progression which uses these chords in a particular order.

If we think in terms of those three lines of four bars I mentioned, then:
– Our first line is just four bars of the I chord.
– Our second line is two bars of the IV chord followed by two bars of the I chord.
– And our third line is the V chord, the IV chord, then two bars of the I chord

In fact that last chord is often changed to a V because it creates a nice turnaround for the repeat, so that last line becomes V, IV, I, V.

Let’s listen to an example of that. As you listen, think through: I I I I, IV IV I I, V IV I V

[ AUDIO EXAMPLE ]

That was a simple piano arrangement. Let’s listen to something with a bit more instrumentation.

[ AUDIO EXAMPLE ]

As you’ll remember from episode 27 on “finding chords in scales”, thinking in terms of numbers means you can easily think about and recognise this same progression in any key.

So our C Major example would be:

C, C, C, C
F, F, C, C
G7, F, C, G7

If we wanted a 12-bar in A Major that would instead become:

A, A, A, A
D, D, A, A
E7, D, A, E7

So that’s what the 12-bar blues is. And it probably sounded familiar to you when I played an example a moment ago, because it crops up all over the place.

So where will you hear it?

Well, from the name you’ve probably guessed, there’s a strong association with blues music. If you listen to old-school blues like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, you’ll hear a lot of songs that simply follow this 12-bar progression. Songs like Sweet Home Chicago, Hoochie Coochie Man, and Messin’ with the Kid.

But as one of the many ways blues influenced early rock music, the 12-bar progression also made its way into rock. You hear it in rock-and-roll classics like Great Balls of Fire, Johnny B. Goode, Rock around the Clock, Blue Suede Shoes – and also tracks by blues-influenced rockers like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin.

I’ll put a link in the shownotes to a playlist with all these examples and more.

Once you get to know the 12-bar blues it’s easy to spot it in music and it becomes a great case study for tuning your ear in to recognising chords by ear in the music you hear each day.

Why it’s worth knowing about, even if you don’t like blues

So I touched there on one reason it’s worth getting familiar with the 12-bar blues, even if you’re not a blues fan and even if you never play blues music. And that’s because it’s a really elegant example of a I-IV-V progression, and one you can easily practice recognising in real music.

I love the 12-bar because it’s about as simple as you can get with a chord progression while still being interesting. It tells a little musical story:

• We start out with four bars of the I chord. This is the home chord and it feels relaxed and stable and there’s not much going on
• Then in the second line we move to the IV chord. That still sounds pretty comfortable but it’s a definite move and we can feel it return to the I after two bars. We’re back home – that could be the end of it – but instead…
• In line three we move to the V7 chord, the epitome of tension. This is the peak of the story, and it feels good to move to the IV chord which relaxes things a little, and then back home safe to the I chord. If we throw in the V7 as the last chord too we reintroduce that tension and it builds excitement to repeat the whole thing again

When you get familiar with this it gives you a way to start getting to know those three chords and their roles, and helps you spot them and those transitions from one to another, even if they occur outside of the 12-bar structure. For example you get to know what it sounds like to go from I to V7, creating that tension – and what it’s like to go from V7 to IV to I, gradually releasing the tension.

The 12-bar blues is also a great playground for learning to improvise. In episode 21 we talked about chord tones and how choosing your improvised notes based on the current chord can help you create tension and release, making your solos more musical. The 12-bar blues is a great progression for practicing that with, as you get a chance to see which notes from the major or pentatonic scale fit well with each chord in the progression. And that story we talked about, where the V or V7 is the peak of tension and interest – that gives you a natural structure to base your own solo’s musical story around.

The last thing I’d say about the 12-bar blues is that it’s also a good playground for exploring writing lyrics and melodies. A lot of 12-bar blues songs will use a fixed AAB pattern for the lyrics, meaning that if we think about that division of the 12 bar into 3 4-bar sections, there are three lines to the lyrics, and the first two are just the same. You’ll immediately know what I mean if I give you an example like:

I woke up this morning, and went and played my guitar
I woke up this morning, and went and played my guitar
But when I played it this morning, I could only play the 12-bar.

That lyric structure may seem over-used and formulaic, but as we’ve talked about on this show before and as we teach inside Musical U, when it comes to creative tasks like improvising and songwriting, having constraints can actually make it far *easier* to be creative and find new ideas.

So if you’re working on writing songs, challenging yourself to write a new and interesting 12-bar blues can be a great way to stretch yourself in a new direction.

So that’s the 12-bar blues. Now you know what it is, what it sounds like, and a few reasons you might want to get to know it better, whether you’re a blues fan or not. Check out the shownotes for this episode at musicalitypodcast.com to listen to more examples of songs in different genres using a 12-bar blues progression and try including some 12-bar blues in your own musical life too!

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Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

The post About the 12-Bar Blues appeared first on Musical U.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/rhythm-training-101-study-syncopation/
Have you ever noticed that your favorite music seems to jump all around the beat? 🤔 They are using syncopation to create rhythmic variety and interest in the song. Learn all about this valuable skill from Musical U! 😃 https://www.musical-u.com/learn/rhythm-training-101-study-syncopation/

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/playing-piano-success/
There is no one-size-fits-all model for success on the piano 🎹 Here are 5 tips from the Musical U team to help you improve! https://www.musical-u.com/learn/playing-piano-success/

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/learning-to-listen-lyrics-and-melodies/
When you listen to a song, what exactly are you listening to? The part that everyone hears and tends to focus on is the melody. Learn more about melodies and lyrics in this article from Musical U. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/learning-to-listen-lyrics-and-melodies/

For Diane Mozzone, her introduction to the world of music came from her upbringing in New York City, where she was exposed to the music scene in downtown Manhattan as a teenager. From there, it was a wild ride: having formed connections to the music industry through her modelling career, Diane began to write music, formed a band, learned the art of promoting herself, and began writing in a variety of styles solo. Many career and music industry-related revelations later, Diane is still writing prolifically today, now in the genre of nu metal.

All the while, her style has been informed by dance sensibilities, lyrical honesty, and a punk rock spirit.

Musical U talked with Diane about her experiences making music both solo and as part of a band in the New York scene of the 1980s, her songwriting process, the unique charm of CBGB, her love of metal, and how she found Musical U and is using it to evolve further as a songwriter.

When I attended Our Savior Lutheran School, in Queens, NY, I joined the Lutheran choir as an alto, and was placed in the boys section. It was from the hymnal that I learned a lot about ascending and descending notes on a staff, as well as harmonizing. Also, the dark melodies were to become a big influence later in my choice of musical genres.

The first time I got recognition from the public was while attending a benefit concert for patients at Elmhurst General Hospital in Queens in 1963. My mother was in the hospital for a long period, and on one of our family visits, a singer failed to show up.

The announcer asked the large audience if someone could perform a song for the band to fill in the spot. As I was always a lead singer to front my two soprano sisters on cover songs we sang in the house, they eagerly screamed out (pointing at me) “My sister can!” I looked at them and the audience, shocked! As I slowly approached the stage, looking around at the audience, the band leader asked me what I would like to sing. I replied, “Johnny Angel”, by Shelly Fabares:

The band knew the score well, so singing it was easy – it was just like my sisters and I rehearsed to the record at home! The applause was so great, and I was only 12 years old. I tell you, I got such satisfaction from the ordeal that I could have sung a hundred more songs. My early influences were the Everly Brothers, Dion, Paul Anka, and, most of all, Motown.

At 13 years of age, I went to the city every night and saw many concerts at the Village Theater, Fillmore East, Cafe au Go Go, Cafe Wha, Night Owl Cafe, and CBGB in Greenwich Village and the East Village. However, I didn’t sing again until I was 17, when my boyfriend heard me wailing to Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane in the car. He asked me to front his Beatles cover band, but I really didn’t like the material. Still, I must say, the band was very good.

As a matter of record, my favorite influence in the 60’s was The Who. I loved the melodies, performance, and the loudness – these also became a large influence on my own musical sensibilities.

I am privileged to say that I’ve been a clubgoer since I was 14 years old. Nothing could keep me away from going out to Long Island to see bands like the Rascals and the Vagrants perform.

By the time the mid 70’s came, I was living in Gramercy Park testing to be a high fashion model. I quickly found my way to the punk scene, through my boyfriend Bruce Rey, who was a downtown photographer and cameraman. The music was exciting, and I saw weirdly dressed groups like Blondie, the New York Dolls, and others walking proudly through the streets. My mode of dressing was quite different from theirs, so this made a huge impression on me.

Every night, after seeing photographers, taking pictures, and visiting modeling agencies, my boyfriend and I would go out to the underground clubs. CBGB and Max’s Kansas City were two of the hottest.

At CBGB in particular, you could see any of the cool bands play, and even meet the members. Once, in that particular club, an enthusiastic slam dancer picked up a chair, flung it hard over his head backwards, and sent it crashing on my head.

Never a dull moment on the downtown music scene. It was partying every night. My biggest thoughts at that time were how to get creative with makeup and find original clothes to wear. After all, that’s how one got noticed.

In 1978, I landed a modeling contract at Foster-Fell Agency, N.Y.C. Within weeks, I was subcontracted to Miyami International in Tokyo, and then Universal Agency in Paris.

It was in those places that I met many famous bands including Van Halen, Elvis Costello, Peter Frampton, and even Bob Marley and his wife Rita. My modeling portfolio and luggage were covered with backstage passes. It’s amazing how models and musicians gravitate to each other.

While I was overseas, Bruce Rey had started hanging out with Rosanna Ramone (Johnny Ramone’s first wife), and Tony Machine, who was the drummer for David Johansen of the New York Dolls. We decided when I stopped modeling, Bruce and I would form a band together, with him playing rhythm, accordion, and piano.

In 1980, Bruce and myself heard a sound that changed our lives: the Yamaha DX7! I bought one immediately, along with a new ebony Kawai piano, TEAC reel-to-reel, and countless effects boxes and pedals for vocals and guitar. The sky was the limit for melodies, sounds, and chord progressions. We really had it going on in that loft, writing punk and new wave music and lyrics, and entertaining fellow musicians. And, of course, hanging out in the downtown clubs to dance and meet people in the industry!

Having obtained a G.E.D. while working in engineering at New York Telephone Co., I decided to go back to school, and received a dance degree at Marymount Manhattan College. Along with the major courses, it was there that I honed my musical skills, taking classes in classical voice, piano, and music history to learn theory. I learned a lot about song structure.

Writing songs came easy for me, after learning about theory and structure. In the 80’s, I looked at my favorite bands’ music, such as Duran Duran and New Order, and studied their structure: for example, how many bars in the intro, verse, bridge and chorus?

In New York, the competition to get a record deal was unimaginable. You have to be original! That’s why I first think: how can I be original? Originality means new sounds, chord progressions, and melodies, and especially being careful not to plagiarize!

Currently, I do metal and nu metal music, and am influenced by bands such as The Offspring, System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Arch Enemy, Rob Zombie, Drowning Pool, and Metallica – these bands fire me up.

I write the lyrics first, picking a theme, whether it be society, or anger, or something else. I’m a hyper person, and they satisfy my need to let off steam. Then, I find chord progressions to set the mood of the lyrics. I can write in this genre all day, because as Joe Strummer (co-founder of The Clash) advised me to do… look in the news! I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, so I change the news to abstract lyrics. This way people can interpret them in any way they want. I also delve into ancient mythology to find original topics.

Dance has influenced my whole music career. As a modern dancer and teacher, I know how important discipline and hard work is to an artist. Also, knowing how to count beats is extremely important. Imagine singing for a band and not knowing the rhythm and the count! Band members would give up on you. You better know when to come in.

My intentions on doing music right from the beginning were to make sure it was dance music!  That’s why I blend easily into goth, punk, Latin disco, house, and now metal. I like to use all styles of dance when I listen to music to be original. And if you can’t move to it, forget it!

I auditioned and got a gig at The Ritz doing backup vocals for a big band – 14 pieces in the style of Kool and the Gang. Notable here is the fact that everyone had a solo. Tony Machine (drummer, New York Dolls) brought his friends down, and a lot of A&R people came. The crowd was immense, and when the show was over, many people told me I was the best part of the act.

This led to a very pivotal point. I decided to be the leader of my own band, doing the music I wanted do.

I wrote four songs quickly, and Bruce picked them up on the rhythm guitar, so we started auditioning people immediately. Our first band, FOTO, was a mixture of a jazz-fusion rhythm section with punk guitar sounds and melodic vocals. Over a year, we recorded at least a hundred rehearsals on cassette, and before long, were ready to play CBGB, our old hangout!

I kept FOTO for 2 years. Then, Bruce and I started auditioning for other members, as I was losing my voice keeping on top of wailing guitars and fusion rhythms. We soon got a classical synth player, David Tannenbaum, and funky new wave bass player Brian Anderson. Our band became known as Miss Young. The sound was melodic synth pop, also known as Europop, New Wave, or Alternative. Our influences included Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Cars, The Smiths, Simple Minds, and especially New Order. We played A7, The Pyramid Club and other cool, downtown clubs offering live music at the time.

Finally, this was what I wanted. At this time, Bruce and I got a friend of ours, Sandy Fagin, who was a veteran DJ and band manager, to manage our band.

Then, on a trip to Sam Ash for equipment, I met Mark Kamins – Madonna’s ex and go-to guy. He was a very sincere, respectful guy, and gave me a lot of records he produced. He started developing me as an individual, not as a band. I started getting the idea to meet A&R people, which I became instantly good at. I promptly went up to record companies with demos. I visited Island, Electra, and Geffen.

The A&R guys loved my voice and songs, but they said my band members should stay out of the mix, explaining they were way overplaying me. Then, I got a sold out gig in 1984 at Magiques, a huge venue uptown, which was the old Chippendales. My last recording with Miss Young came at Secret Society studio. Sandy came and brought Glen Kolotkin, the famed sound engineer, to produce us. Tony Machine played the drum machine. The music sounded a bit like Annie Lennox and The Eurythmics. Working with so many professionals gave me the opportunity to realize I might have to do it myself.

I never really got a chance to shop that tape around, because I decided to break up the band and leave Bruce, my boyfriend of nine years. They stayed together for only a short time, as they had no singer-songwriter. I had been the one doing that, along with the PR, going up to record companies, getting gigs, and paying for everything. In fact, I was the band, and the leaders in the music industry made sure I was aware of that.

It wasn’t long before I met a drummer, who was a barback at The Palladium, who would later become my husband. The dance music I was listening to prompted me to do electronic music with no blaring guitars. In 1985, we moved to London with all of our musical equipment: ten heavy aluminum instrument cases carrying drums, synthesizers, and a sampler. We stayed in South West London with friends, and I worked at Harrods Department store.

My now-husband Artie got depressed because of the rain, and because of an incident where he had rented out his equipment and had it stolen – the band never brought the gear back or paid the rental fee! Then, more bad news: we lost more of our prized equipment due to its improper use by others.

We returned to New York City and our old jobs, and tied the knot. Once again, we earned enough to purchase equipment to try to find a producer to record my music. I decided to buy my own studio with my husband, and I wrote the song “Call On Me” in 10 minutes. I had met Juan Cano, who was working at Sam Ash on 47th Street. When he heard the song, he decided to produce it on an 8-track in his basement apartment in Jersey City.  What a great song! I knew it could be a hit.

I promptly went to the A&R people who signed artists to that genre like Sleeping Bag Records, and happened upon Eddie O’Loughlin at Next Plateau Records (Salt n’ Pepa) who along with the other companies went nuts over the song. I got signed with Next Plateau and Eddie chose Mickey Garcia and Elvin Molina (Mic Mac Records) to do the production. I continued writing while waiting for the record to come out.

However, by now, Chicago House music was the new thing. I wrote great songs in that genre, and found a great producer, D. Guillaume, who knew House well, but Eddie wanted that hit song of mine that never left his head, even while he slept. I refused. I guess you could say that I moved on with the dance scene.

The last collection of songs I wrote and got produced were in a studio in Forest Hills, Queens in 1989. You couldn’t believe what this guy, David T., from Soviet Georgia could produce on my 4-track! My heart poured out in those songs. In the same year, I got a great uptown producer named Jeff to do another four songs I wrote which were so utterly depressing, I admittedly couldn’t bear to shop them around. But boy, the production was killer, with a kind of The Motels sound.

I see myself copyrighting my material after production. Then, I can find the people necessary to play and perform the best of them. I may not use all of the songs, depending on what the band likes. I know that each member has to feel comfortable and like the lyrics and style. That’s why I like to write a lot of songs. More to pick and choose from.

I decided to do heavy metal and nu metal music as a result of my husband Artie’s influence. He is a real heavy metal and mosh pit person. I had actually never listened to this music before I met him – in fact, I barely listened to music at all in the 90’s. Going through a master’s and doctoral program were enough.

However, when the millennium came, I got into Seether, Breaking Benjamin, Papa Roach, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and every other alternative band. I started attending concerts again to catch up. Boy, I had missed a lot!

I can’t believe the state of current society, and metal allows me to act out my rage. I find it funny how friends and family react to such an older woman outrageously singing and performing. I’m a real friendly, happy person, and metal lovers who know me can’t believe my other side. Moreover, singing in such a manner affords me a lot of fun. My vocals have power and I get to use it!

I came across the website recently, when I broke my foot and had to sit all day. I have a strong work ethic, even though I’m retired. I decided to use my time wisely and get ear training, so I typed that into a search engine and up came your site!

I figured with this skill, I can get fellow musicians to play my songs in the future, even if they don’t know theory. I now live in San Antonio – this is not NYC, where excellent session musicians or anybody at the music building can play a song immediately.

The site instantly helped me, and I have started practicing to discern intervals by ear. By playing and noticing the chords on the synth, the repetition leads me to identify chords and actually be able to play them quickly.

My best advice to singers is to keep yourself in full voice. I do it easily by singing all day. Also, have melodies in your head as much as possible. I don’t mean to be neurotic, but if one wants to sing on pitch and be ready, you have to practice your skill. Singing only during rehearsal three times a week will not help you, just as dancers cannot expect to do four pirouettes whenever they feel like it. But – be careful not to strain your voice. Don’t overuse it.

For songwriters, my first piece of advice is to pick your genre and sound. Write a collection in that specific style. Do not hand over a demo with one reggae song, one metal, and one alternative. Know your market!

Then, audition players. Find themes you have passion about and write, write, write! Bring a recorder wherever you go, so you don’t forget the lyrics and melodies. Research other bands’ success stories. Define what success means to you. Then, decide which route you want to take. Do you want to play out and get a following? Do you want to promote and sell yourself online? Do you want to tour? Do you want to sign to a record company to promote your band?

Document everything. Get four songs for a demo to shop around. Anything is possible, so do what Nastassja Kinski (the model/actress) once told me: “Just Do It!” Keep your eye on band members. Are they dedicated like you, or along for the ride? Everybody must play their part.

Most importantly, remember to get feedback from professionals! And remember… no two stories are the same.

I hope this advice and Musical U get you motivated. I want to wish you all the best of luck, and thank you, Musical U for giving me this opportunity to share my experience!

Writing Your Own Success Story

Phew! Diane’s story was an incredible whirlwind – from her time as a teenager going to shows in downtown New York City, to honing her musicality, to starting a band, to writing music solo and learning to promote herself.

Now, having found an outlet for her music and lyrics in the form of the energetic nu metal genre, exciting things are in the works for Diane – who knows where her musical journey will take her next?

The post Carving Out a Career in Music, with Diane Mozzone appeared first on Musical U.