For singing this month we did something a little different. We took the theme of improvisation but applied it to that all-important preparation skill: warming up.
Guest Pro Nina Rosenberger put together this inspiring tutorial on some more interesting and unusual ways to warm up your voice and start playing around with vocal ideas:
Including:
– Why do we warm up?
– Physical warmup and breathing
– Vocal warmup using different syllables and words
– “Sing it away” exercise
– The importance of keeping true to your own vocal style
– MP3 tracks for warmup with instructions and demonstrations
Nina manages to transform what is often a boring and repetitive part of singing practice into something truly musical and actually enjoyable! By using these specific exercises as well as the overall ideas that can be applied in other ways, you need never suffer through a dull warmup again. Learn more here: https://www.musical-u.com/learn/beginning-improvisation-resource-pack-preview
Growing up, your mom told you to practice the piano. When you asked why, she would either say, “Because it’s good for you!” or, “Because I said so!” Perhaps this led to you feeling frustrated and eventually giving up the instrument. It’s a common occurrence.
Now that you’re older, you know that playing an instrument might be fun, but you can’t come up with a compelling reason why it should take away time from other important things. Or maybe you want to get started but your significant other thinks it might be a waste of time.
Mom knew it was good, but she probably wasn’t aware of the details.
Fortunately, today’s scientific research on the brain reveals many amazing and surprising benefits to learning music at any age.
Here are nine very good reasons to start playing an instrument, all related to your brain. Once you’ve read them, you’ll have to come up with reasons not to play an instrument.
While she may not have known why, your mom’s instincts were right on: playing music is good for you. Very good for you. So good for you that it seems almost foolish not to play music.
Today’s scientific research shows us just how good learning music is. Playing an instrument is true exercise for your brain. It strengthens it in ways you could never even imagine – leading to better mood, increased motor and sensory skills, better connections to others, and more.
It can be intimidating to improvise on piano because typically you’re expected to provide both harmony and melody using your two hands. In this month’s Resource Pack for piano Sara Campbell teaches some simple but effective ways to get started improvising great-sounding arrangements:
Including:
– The natural minor scale and a simple chord progression you can use with it
– Exploring rhythmic and chordal patterns
– How to completely change your sound with different left-hand patterns
– Tips and tricks for feeling relaxed when exploring improvisation
– Applying the same techniques in a different key
– MP3 tracks demonstrating two different rhythms, two different left-hand patterns and an example solo using them.
With the approach that Sara teaches here, you can simply sit down at the keyboard and easily start creating music. Combined with the core listening skills you can learn with Musical U training, you have everything you need to dive deep into improvisation with confidence. Keep learning at: https://www.musical-u.com/learn/beginning-improvisation-resource-pack-preview/
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In the guitar Resource Pack this month Dylan Welsh introduces the versatile minor pentatonic scale as a great way to start exploring improvisation, in both major and minor keys:
Including:
– Introduction to the minor pentatonic scale
– How and where to play it
– How to learn from solos you hear
– Limitation exercises to build your creativity
– Additional tips and tricks for getting good results
MP3 tracks demonstrating the scale in two keys, providing two backing tracks (in major and minor) and two example solos over those backing tracks.
Dylan first teaches a simple fretboard pattern, and then shows you how to put it to real musical work in a variety of ways – all the while connecting your ears with your instrument. With a couple of examples in the accompanying quick reference guide, he also shows real solos from the rock world that use exactly this approach.
Improvisation on bass can go far beyond a simple turnaround fill or technique-heavy solo. This month Steve Lawson introduces an easy and practical way to get started, as well as some insightful tips on the mindset you should take to exploring improv on bass.
Including:
* How to approach improvisation
* How to gradually develop your improv skills
* Thinking in terms of a grid of notes, not just a linear sequence
* Two starting exercises and other interesting ways to explore this pattern
* MP3 tracks demonstrating two styles and providing backing tracks for you to experiment with
With these specific exercises (and the large number of interesting musical variations Steve introduces to expand on them), combined with the overall approach he teaches, you will be well equipped to begin creating your own licks and lines and start taking real ownership of what you play on bass.
Interested in getting access to these resources and much more, with an Instrument Pack membership? Just choose that option during checkout when you join Musical U, or upgrade your existing membership to get instant access!
Musicality is a very useful catch-all for “being musical”. It encompasses many of the skills we help people to learn at Musical U. Like all catch-all terms though, there is a downside to the convenience. By using this short and simple word we risk overlooking many of the dimensions and subtleties it’s used to represent.
So let’s take this opportunity to explore: what is musicality?
Is it different from musicianship?
Wikipedia has a slightly flimsy page, drawing on the Merriam-Webster definition: “Musicality is “sensitivity to, knowledge of, or talent for music” or “the quality or state of being musical”.”
The Oxford Dictionary gets a bit mystical, saying musicality is “Musical talent or sensitivity” giving examples: “her beautiful, rich tone and innate musicality” and “his compositions reveal an exceptional degree of innate musicality”.
If you’ve been following our blog then you know we at Musical U can’t stand the Talent Myth and think “talent” doesn’t compare to practice for becoming a great musician.
So we’re not keen on definitions of musicality which imply it’s a “gift” or something innate rather than learnable.
However, there is something valuable in those talent-based definitions: they capture the ineffable quality of musicality, the fact that it isn’t a simple yes/no quality, nor something you can fully define in a single sentence.
In fact Dr. Chad West who regularly presents on the subject of modern musicianship defines 5 “Big Skills” which contribute to musicality and go way beyond instrument technique or being born talented.
Here at Musical U we like this short and simple definition: Musicality is a set of “inner skills” which let you freely and confidently express yourself in music.
We’ve unpacked that into a large number of specific skills and explored each of these here on the blog in our “Musicality Means” series and we have a Musicality Status Check for our members to see which areas they want to focus on improving next.
Here (in no particular order) are some of the skills we believe are important parts of musicality:
Playing by ear
Singing in tune
Jamming
Having good rhythm
Writing music
Writing notation
Improvising a solo
Talking music
Understanding Music Theory
Clapping in time
Knowing your instrument inside and out
Tuning your instrument by ear
Reading notation
Sight-reading music
Playing from a lead sheet
Performing live
Playing multiple instruments
Let’s look at each of these in turn and see how they contribute to being musical.