Musicality World

In the last episode we heard from 11 experts whose answers to this question were varied and fascinating. There were some common themes, some of which you’ll hear coming up again in this episode, but each guest also brought their own unique perspective and insight to the question. We’ll talk a little more at the end of this episode about those recurring themes and how we can learn more from them.

We said last time that we’d tried to group the experts to make for two great episodes to listen to, but apart from that there’s no meaning to the order – so the line-up for this episode is just as impressive as the first one.

In this episode you’ll be hearing:

• Bill Hilton, author of “How to Really Play the Piano” talking about the level of instrument technique required to sound truly musical.
• Book author, podcaster, song-writer and musician David Andrew Wiebe of MusicEntrepreneurHQ.com revealing three things that can help you sound more like a pro.
• Innovator in school music education Casey von Neumann of Eclectic Music and CaseyMcCann.com sharing the tip that let her sound just as musical as her incredibly accomplished teacher.
• Leading teacher-of-teachers Sara Campbell of SarasMusicStudio, and our Resident Pro for piano here at Musical U, explaining why young children are often more in touch with their inner musicality and what we can learn from that.
• Practice expert Chris Owenby from PracticeHabits.co talking about what it takes to become an accomplished musician like the greats we admire.
• Rising star singer-songwriter Kendra McKinley pointing out the thing you’re probably forgetting to listen to which could make you sound more musical.
• Actress, singer, writer and cabaret expert Fiona-Jane Weston discussing the relationship between technique and artistry, and how to unlock the potential in a piece of music.
• Composer and guitar educator David Wallimann on escaping the constraints your instrument might be placing on you.
• Author of the must-have handbook for aspiring musicians, “The Musician’s Way”, Gerald Klickstein, on one activity that will transform your musicality and why it’s more vital for music than other artforms.
• Music technology expert Katie Wardrobe on one non-tech thing she does to develop her musical understanding.
• World-leading vocal expert and sight-reading pro Jeremy Fisher on how to overcome tricky spots and learn music faster.
• Creative music teaching expert Leila Viss on the mindset shift required to uncover your own creative voice.
• Music theory innovator Scott Sharp on the special way of thinking about keys and chords that can let you understand what’s going on in the music you hear and play.
• And Vincent James, the man behind some of the most inspiring events and books in the world of music tops off our episode with some counter-intuitive advice for connecting musically with your audience.

Are you excited? We’ve already heard all these and we’re excited all over again just talking through them!

Before we dive in, if you’re somebody who relishes this kind of musicality insight and knowledge then you are not going to want to miss the special edition we’ve put together to celebrate this 100th episode. It’s called the Musicality Podcast Power Pack, and we’ve taken the first 100 episodes of the podcast plus some clever extra resources to help you get maximum value from each and every episode, AND some super cool bonuses contributed by our expert guests. And we’ve packed it all onto a USB thumb drive you can put in any computer or laptop and instantly get access to everything.

No waiting for downloading, no worrying that the episodes might not be available any more in future – you’ve got everything you could want and more, all in the palm of your hand. We would really love for every single listener to the show to have a copy of this – so we’ve made it really affordable and we’re including free worldwide shipping to help get this out to as many people as possible. So if you enjoy the show and want the Power Pack yourself, or if you have a friend or family member who you’d love to hand it to as an amazing musical gift, please head to musicalitypodcast.com/celebrate – that’s musicalitypodcast.com/celebrate – for all the details. This is a very time-limited offer to celebrate this 100th episode, so don’t miss your chance to grab a copy of the Musicality Podcast Power Pack – head to musicalitypodcast.com/celebrate today!

Okay, with that said, let’s dive in.

Listen to the episode:

Links and Resources

• Unlocking Your Musicality: Part One
• Interview with Bill Hilton
• Interview with David Andrew Wiebe
• Interview with Casey von Neumann
• Interview with Sara Campbell
• Interview with Chris Owenby
• Interview with Kendra McKinley
• Interview with Fiona-Jane Weston
• Interview with David Wallimann
• Interview with Gerald Klickstein
• Interview with Katie Wardrobe
• Interview with Jeremy Fisher
• Interview with Leila Viss
• Interview with Scott Sharp
• Interview with Vincent James

Transcript

Bill Hilton

Bill Hilton: Hey everyone, I’m Bill Hilton. You might have come across my piano tutorials on YouTube. You might have read some of my books about playing the piano, or you might have heard me before on the Musicality podcast.

Now today, I just want to spend a minutes sharing an idea with you. A really simple idea. Which if you take it onboard, can really help you tap your inner musicality and give you more freedom as a musician, help you release yourself from some of the constraints that you might have imposed as you’ve learned your instrument.

And the idea is this: you don’t need to be a good musician to make good music. Okay? It sounds really simple, doesn’t it? A bit a facile almost. A bit simplistic, yeah? You don’t need to be a good musician to make good music. But it’s absolutely true, okay? I’ve learned that over the years, and I’ve seen it in other people. And if you take it onboard it can make you a better musician.

Let’s just unpack, kind of explain what I mean by that idea. Now, when I talk to a lot of people who are learning how to play a musical instrument, typically the piano because that’s my instrument. And time and time again I come across this very distinctive attitude you find among instrument learners. And it’s this, “I’m learning to play this instrument, and I need to learn this skill, and that skill, and this big of theory, and this scale, and I need to learn to do it really fast. Or here on the piano, or there on the piano, I need to be able to stretch this distance. I need to learn all these things. I want to have learned all these things in two years, or five years, or 10 years, or whatever. Then I’ll be a good musician.” Okay?

Now in some ways that’s a healthy attitude, because as musicians we should always be seeking to get better, yeah? Because the better we get as musicians, the more technically skilled we become, the bigger the range of music we can perform. Okay? But it’s also in some ways an unhealthy attitude, because the implication behind it is, “Until I’ve learned all these amazing skills … Until I’ve learned to sit down and … play really fast jazz scales, or whatever. Until I’ve learned to do that, then I’m no good.” You know, “What I play isn’t worth listening to. It’s not worth sharing with the world. It’s not fundamentally good music.” The truth is, you can make good music, even great music with relatively limited skills.

All I’m doing here, is playing around with a C chord in a root position in my right hand and suspended notes. I’m suspending a D and an F in there every now and then. Okay? They’ll think that’s pretty complicated, if you don’t play the piano I can teach you how to play the shapes that I’m playing there, in 10 minutes or whatever. When all I’m doing is kind of … noodling around with it. Now, I’m not saying it’s great music, but it is kind of interesting music. That’s kind of cool isn’t that? It’s C, F, and G in the right hand, with an E natural in the base. So, you’ve got that kind of slight dissonance in there which resolves … when you get to the F in the base, okay?

So, I’m not using the skills of a massively advanced musician, but I’m making at least somewhat interesting music. Okay. So, when you finish listening to this, go and sit at your instrument or sit with your instrument, whatever your instrument happens to be, and just play around with something simple. And don’t think about the technical skills, don’t think about the chords or the scales. Think about the musicality. Think about the sound you’re making. What are you expressing? Because that’s what music is all about, okay?

There’s a little bitty quotation from the 16th century, Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, and Monteverdi wrote that, “The end of good music is to touch the soul.” “The end of good music is to touch the soul.” It’s not to show off or to play low fancy stuff, it’s to connect with people, and to make it an emotional impact. To make some sort of statement, to convey a feeling. Now, if you have loads of technical skills, then as I said, you have a bigger range of ways of doing that at your disposal. But even if you have very limited skills, okay? Or only quite limited knowledge, you can still be really really musical. You can still sit down at the piano or with your guitar or whatever, and make good music.

And actually, we all know that to be true if you think about someone like Paul McCartney, who I’m fairly sure to this day doesn’t read music very well. But who has written some of the great songs in the 20th century. Now, that’s not to say that I don’t think you should learn how to read music because I absolutely think you should. But you don’t need to wait until you have all those skills before you start making good music.

Kind of the [cornorary 00:05:11] of that attitude is that learning technical skills, and learning how to be flashy, and how to show off … By extension and getting loads of fancy gear or that kind of thing … Those are not ends in themselves. Some people really learn bits fast play, or fancy playing. Or they get loads of plugins or fancy instruments, and it doesn’t make you a better musician, okay? I would rather listen to a really good piece of very simple music played on a [knack it all 00:05:43] piano, yeah? Than something really flashy, but a bit soulless.

“The end of all good music.” Monteverdi chooses that word “good” very precisely. “The end of all good music, is to touch the soul.” And in order to touch people’s soul, you don’t need to know a lot more … than one chord shape.

So, as I say, get yourself to your instrument now. Just sit down, suspend your judgment, dig into that musicality. Instead of thinking, “Am I playing the right notes?” Think about, “What am I trying to say?” Because even if you’re not a good musician yet, even if you don’t have all those technical skills, you can still make good music.

Casey von Neumann

Casey von Neumann: Hi this is Casey Von Neumann, formerly Casey McCann from Casey McCann dot com and Eclectic music Atlanta dot com. Something that I’ve seen that can help people become more musical is to slow down and take small chunks. To take on less.

When I was a student, my teacher played with the most beautiful technique, and I learned a lot from watching him and what he would always tell me was that whatever I was playing, I should be able to play as well as he could play it. And that didn’t mean that I could play everything that he could play; he was an incredibly accomplished classical pianist. But it meant that he wanted, even if I just played five notes that I was gonna play that five notes with ease and artistry.

If I couldn’t play whatever I was playing with ease and artistry; that I should be taking on less or going more slowly. So that has held true to this day, in a lot of different aspects of my musicianship and that of my students. It’s amazing what we’re capable of and the artistry and beauty that we’re able to display when we actually lower the bar for ourselves and don’t take on as much.

That we force ourselves to slow down and be mindful, even when we wanna just leap to the top of the mountain, we just aim to get there step by step and then we will actually sound very professional and polished when we play even if we’re playing simpler pieces.

David Andrew Wiebe

David Andrew Wiebe: Hi, this is David Andrew Wiebe from the Music Entrepreneur HQ.

I believe that musicality is something that’s deeply embedded in all of us. Everywhere we go, music follows us around, whether it’s in our car, at the mall, in a restaurant, or on YouTube videos, or otherwise.

This is good news, because it means that you don’t need to dig deep to find your musicality, all you need to do is draw it out.

Music is essentially built off rhythm, melody and harmony. If you can tap out a beat with your foot or hum a melody to yourself, it’s proof positive you are already musical.

When you’re first getting started, playing music may seem a bit esoteric. Not because you haven’t heard music before, but because you don’t know how all the elements are supposed to come together to create a cohesive whole. Playing music is a little different from listening to music, and as you begin learning how to play an instrument, slowly but surely the mystery will unravel.

But you might be saying to yourself, I know how the basics work, I’m trying to figure out how to sound more like a pro. As you can imagine, this can take time. So often, we look at the pros and say to ourselves, “Look at how fast they are. How do you learn to play so fast? They sound so good, what scale are they playing? Their timing is impeccable. How do they stay on time?”

I’ve asked myself the same questions, so I know where you’re coming from. Here’s what I’ve found.

One: Players who I initially thought were impossibly fast turned out to be more precise than fast. Certainly, there are some musicians who are fast on their instrument, and they’ve worked hard to develop that, usually with the help of a metronome. But fast doesn’t always translate to sounding good. So, rather than making it your goal to play fast, make it your goal to play accurately. Speed will come with time if you focus on accuracy first.

Two: Most players are using the same scales that we use, so why does it seem like they sound so much better than we do? This mainly has to do with their phrasing. Listening to different genres can help you get a better sense of how a solo or riff is phrased in those styles. Learning a new way of phrasing is like adding another tool to your belt, as you’ll be able to pick and choose how you want to phrase a specific part. Another way of saying this is that, everybody playing music is using the same words, i.e., notes, but how you put those words together impacts the sound that comes across.

Three: Pros have spent years practicing, jamming and rehearsing with drummers and click tracks. Some musicians even use click tracks for their live shows so they can keep synchronized with their band mates and/or video footage. If you’ve ever recorded music before, you know how essential it is to practice your part with a metronome. The number one goal with a recording is to get all the instruments sounding airtight, so even though there’s a lot that can be done in editing and post-production, it’s helpful to get a take that’s as close to perfect as possible.

Bottom line: Learning to play in time takes practice.

So, in summary, you are already musical. It’s an innate part of who you are. This isn’t to suggest that you can get good at playing any instrument. You may need to try several instruments before you can find one you’re comfortable on. But you don’t need to uncover your musicality, you just need to nurture it. If you want to improve your musicality, exercise your five senses, especially sight, touch and sound. Watch others play music, spend time with your instrument, and listen to a lot of music.

Sara Campbell

Sara Campbell: Hey there, this is Sara Campbell from sarasmusicstudio.com. And I’ve got a little bit of advice for you today about tapping in to your inner musicality. This lesson comes from some of the youngest students in my studio.

I’ve had the pleasure of teaching so many students over the years of a variety of ages, and one of the things that I’ve observed, is that there’s a big difference between my very little students, and my adult students. And that difference is that little students are so much freer when they sit down to the piano, or when they’re singing. They embrace that inner musicality with ease, and here’s why.

As adults, we develop these really heavy expectations on ourselves. And we have a mean little inner critic that likes to come out whenever we’re practicing or performing. And that critic will say things like, “That note sounded awful. This rhythm is so boring. Why can’t you do this better? You’ve been practicing this for six months.” Little kids, they don’t have that inner critic. They don’t have those heavy expectations.

So my one tip for you is this: embrace your inner child, release those expectations, and find the joy that you had as a little kid when you were listening to your favorite song. So when it comes to improvisation, or practice, or performance, I want you to ask yourself one question, “What would my five year old self do?”

Chris Owenby

Chris Owenby: Hello. This is Chris Owenby from PracticeHabits.co. I think there’s an air of mystic that surrounds musicians in the craft, especially those who have risen among the ranks to become professional musicians and have celebrated works. Whether that’s in the form of audio recordings or live performances. I feel this can be encouraging for a lot of folks inspiring to watch someone in that light but I feel like that it can also be daunting and almost discouraging for those working at their craft and don’t feel like they’re growing as quickly as they should.

I always like to remind people that you have to consider the whole journey. You take a star in air quotes and analyze they’re working what they’re doing. Just remember there’s always a backstory. There’s always a journey that has propelled an individual who’s achieved great things forward. It’s those little things that we do each day as musicians. The five to 10 minutes of very focused practice here and there or the 30 minutes to an hour of focus intense practice once per week, or once a day even, that’s going to propel you forward. It’s those little things compounded that will help you achieve great things.

Not for everyone is the goal to become a professional musician or a star or someone who’s performing for large audiences. For many, the goal may just to become very good at his or her own instrument and the craft of playing the instrument. I think that’s a beautiful and wonderful goal. But friends, be encouraged to remember it’s those little things that add up, is going to help you achieve great things on your instrument and help you tap in to your inner musicality. Be encouraged.

Kendra McKinley

Kendra McKinley: Hi, my name is Kendra McKinley and I am a musician from San Francisco, California.

The piece that I’d like to share about tapping into one’s inner musicality is about listening. So if you’re singing with a choir or if you’re playing with a band, think it can be easy to become hyper-focused on the sounds that you’re making, on your own intonation, on whether or not you’re playing the correct part, or focusing on the quality of your instrument.

All of which are very important things, but I think that real musicality is achieved when thinking about how your instrument exists in relation to the other sounds around you. For example, if you’re singing and you focus more on the other voices, you sort of start to blend a bit more because your voice sort of gives in to what it is that they’re creating. So yeah, I would just say listening, listen more to those players around you. Or perhaps you’re performing solo and maybe you’re more comfortable as a singer than as a guitar player. Then try listening more to the instrument that you’re playing. Hope that’s helpful. Thank you. Bye.

Fiona-Jane Weston

Fiona-Jane Weston: Hello, my name is Fiona-Jane Weston, and I am a singer, actor and cabaret artist. The terms “musicality” or “being musical” seem to cover a whole range of meanings. It can mean something as simple as saying someone is able to pick up a musical concept faster, or learn an instrument faster, or simply to carry a tune with more emotional intent. Or it might mean someone who has very little in the way of musical education, but is able to really grasp the deeper, visceral connection with music.

It’s possible for someone without much in the way of musical education, but with a great gift, to in fact not really be able to express their musicality very well, because they don’t have the tools there. Whereas someone with less of an innate gift that is brought up in a very supportive musical environment, might really be able to develop.

It seems to me that the purpose of learning any artistic technical skill, whether it’s for playing an instrument, or to learn to dance or act or sing or paint a picture, is to get hold of and develop the tools that the artist needs to express themselves freely, to not be hampered by any technical deficiencies. So speaking as a singer, I know that a sound mastery of vocal technique and an understanding of how music works, grants the singer more colors in their paintbox to express the lyrics and narratives of a song in just the way they want to.

I would say that the things that have helped me in my musical career are to first of all become very familiar with the song as it’s written, and then decide how I want to share the emotions of the lyrics, in order to put my own interpretation on it. And also to listen very carefully to the melody and the musical accompaniment.

With regard to the melody, I will as myself questions like this: do I want to finish the note at the same time as the accompaniment? Or do I want to come off earlier or later for a particular effect? Do I want to alter the rhythm on this phrase? Or repeat the chorus in a higher key or even go up the octave? But this is not done to show off how high you can sing; it should be done for artistic reasons. There should be a real intentionality behind it. But at the same time, if you really want to express an emotion by going up higher, but then you find you might be cracking on the high notes, go back to your technique. Go back to your vocal technique, so that you can sing the high notes without cracking. Or bring the whole song down a key.

If it’s a really complex song, a good tip I’ve found is to really listen to the accompaniment. It will give you all sorts of clues as to how to interpret it dramatically, but also help you technically as well, so that if you’re someone who finds it hard to count … secretly, I find it hard to count … listen to the accompaniment, and it will tell you how long you want to hold onto the last note, for example. So that if you’re in a drumbeat … your personal inner drumbeat is different from the person’s next to you, it’s not going to be a problem if you’re listening very carefully to each other. You’ll be fine. You’ll both know what to do.

So I suppose the most important thing I’ve learned really over the years, is that sound technical mastery and artistic expression work together to create a really profound experience, both for the listener and the artist. They’re not competing elements; being clever technically doesn’t necessarily make a musician more musical than somebody who doesn’t have the technical terms, but can really move an audience. But it does mean that if you have those two things going together, that’s really when the magic happens.

So that the person who is relying totally on their artistic expression, but doesn’t have the technical skill or the musical concepts, I would really want to encourage you to go and learn them, and learn the concepts here, on Musical U, because it can only render your artistry even better. It can only increase your knowledge and your confidence, and make your communications easier with other musicians. And here at Musical U, you’re in the right place to do just that. I look forward to joining you here, on the musical journey on Musical U, and to find out just how you’re developing with your musical journey too. Let’s share it together. All the best to you.

David Wallimann

David Wallimann: Hey, this is David Wallimann from GuitarPlayback.com and from YouTube, also. And if there’s one thing that really did help me early on develop my musicality it’s this, to just put the guitar down, as a guitar player, or whatever other instrument you’re playing, just put that down, which will force you to not think like an instrumentalist.

I think the problem when thinking about the guitar or the keyboard or whatever … The problem with that is that you’re gonna start to think about the things that you are supposed to do with the instrument. What skills have you learned, what patterns have you learned and when you start to think in terms of those things, your music is really influenced and directed by the skills that you have acquired in your practice, and that’s limiting. You might be missing out on your inner musician.

So what I would do, and that has helped me, is to actually put the guitar down and don’t touch it and just imagine … imagine what you want to say musically. Just start singing something. The voice is probably the easiest thing to do that because we’re so used to using our voice, and just to add a little bit, imagine what you want the outcome to be once you have something. It can be super simple.

Once you have something, grab your instrument and try to replicate what you heard inside and what came out of your mouth and you’ll discover that most of the times what your playing is something new and fresh and exciting because it really comes from within and not from the limitations of your current ability to play the instrument. That helped me a lot. I hope it helps you too and congrats on the milestone for the podcast. Keep up the good work!

Gerald Klickstein

Gerald Klickstein: Hello. This is Gerald Klickstein, author of The Musician’s Way and publisher of musiciansway.com.

We’re talking about musicality and the one thing I’ve learned that helps musicians be more musical, and this is the one thing that’s probably the most powerful of all, and it is to self-record in practice and then listen back with an objective ear. Self-recording is crucial for us musicians because with our art form, it exists in time, unlike say visual artists whose work exists in space. For a visual artist, he or she can do some work on the piece, step back and evaluate it and then continue working. For musicians, when we practice a passage, once we finish playing or singing, it’s gone except for our memory of it. So if our memory is very accurate and if our perceptions are keen, we will be able to evaluate quite accurately, but of course, we’re human and our perceptions, our memories are fallible. So sometimes, especially when we’re practicing something that’s more difficult for us, sometimes, we might not notice certain details. Maybe our timing might drift, let’s say.

Self-recording provides us with the means to correct for any faults in our self-perception and memory, and there are lots of great ways to record oneself. I’ve written more about this in the Musician’s Way blog if you search for the piece called Self-recording in Practice. Writing 100 years ago, a famous music educator spoke about the same thing. That was Tobias Matthay and he wrote “There is nothing more fatal for our musical sense than to allow ourselves—by the hour—to hear musical sounds without really listening to them.” Of course, 100 years ago, people didn’t have the benefit of self-recording, but now we do so I recommend that all musicians record themselves frequently. I hope that’s helpful and I look forward to seeing you on The Musician’s Way blog.

Katie Wardrobe

Katie Wardrobe: Hi, this is Katie Wardrobe of midnightmusic.com.au. The thing that I’ve found has helped me over the years the most with increasing, and developing my musicality, is to listen actively all the time. Even when you’re just listening in the car to the radio, or to something on your iPhone. I found that active listening is a great way to develop the ear. So, I listen to the baseline sometimes. Occasionally I’ll listen to the chord progression, and I’ll try to pick it out. I might listen to the melody and imagine how it’s notated. And doing that over the years has really really helped my musicality, and helped me develop my inner ear.

Jeremy Fisher

Jeremy Fisher: Hi, this is Jeremy Fisher of vocalprocess.co.uk. There’s one thing I learned early on, that I think could really help you feel more musical, and be happier with the way you perform: stepped practicing. I can make music for hours, and that helps me learn how my instrument works. But sometimes I hit a phrase I can’t do. So here’s my tip: find the exact point in the phrase that you can’t do, and add a bar or a measure before it and after it. Mistakes are only made in context, so experiment with the context. Concentrate on what leads into the mistake, and what leads out of it.

Just do those bars a few times until you’re comfortable, then add another bar before it and after it. And you carry on until you’ve built up the whole phrase. You can often discover that the problem isn’t where you thought it was in the phrase, it’s the way you’re approaching the difficult note. Do this type of focused practice, and that means … well I can learn pieces really quickly and iron out the problems with only a few minutes of practice. Try it out. Works for me.

Leila Viss

Leila Viss: Hi, this is Leila Viss of 88pianokeys.me and 88creativekeys.com.

There was one thing I learned early on, which I think could really help others feel more musical and that is nothing is original. After reading Austin Kleon’s book, “Steel Like an Artist,” it gave me the freedom and the material to be creative. Instead of feeling like I had to come up with an idea out of thin air, I now borrow ideas, explore them and blend them with my own DNA.

I encourage you to take an idea, put your own twist on it and find your creative voice.

Scott Sharp

Scott Sharp: Hi, this is Scott Sharp with Fretboard Toolbox. And one of the most important things I’ve ever learned, and I learned it later on in playing is to think of music in terms of keys. So I used to just think that chords were kind of random and what scales went with ’em were random.

But once I started understanding that if a song was in the key of G Major the chords were predictable and the scales that fit together were predictable; it started opening up all sorts of new musical ideas forming. So when I know a song’s in the key of G now, I know the chords G, C Major, D Major are likely. The one, four, five. I know A Minor, B Minor or E Minor; the two, three or six chords can be in there.

Then I know that any chord that’s in a song that’s in the key of G, that is not one of those six is breaking a rule. And once I know what rule’s being broken, I can play that same idea in any key. And so, the other part that really added a ton was learning the notes that make up the chords. Because once I started seeing that G Major chord is made of the notes G, B, and D; then I could see that on any instrument. As long as I can find and figure out where’s all the G, B, and D’s then I can play G Major on anything.

And if I know what chords fit in the key of G Major, I can start playing all sorts of songs on all sorts of different instruments; and it opened up a lot for me. Hope it does the same for you. Thanks for your time and hope y’all enjoy.

Vincent James

Vincent James: Hi, this is Vincent James from Keep Music Alive, founder of Kids Music Day and Teach Music Week. My wife Joanne and I are also authors of the book series, ’88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life.’

One thing that’s been beneficial to me is to intentionally slow down when I’m performing a song. Sometimes we’re a little nervous when performing live, or at least I am, and we tend to speed up the tempo. And I’m not just talking about the drummers out there.

What happens when you slow it down a little is you start to feel the music you’re playing more, and that absolutely comes across to your audience. The whole purpose of a song performance is to inspire your listener to feel something, and that’s a lot harder if you’re not truly feeling it yourself.

We want you to keep on playing the music and special thanks to Musical You for helping us all be more musical.

The post Unlocking Your Musicality: Part Two appeared first on Musical U.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/get-rhythm-learn-common-beats/
Learning common beats is a lot like learning the ABCs of music. Combining notation knowledge with ear training will help you develop strong musical rhythm skills. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/get-rhythm-learn-common-beats/

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Preparing for any course can be nerve-wracking. Especially when you first take a swing at ear training.

Here are 5 tips to set you up for success. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/5-tips-on-preparing-for-your-first-ear-training-course/

With guest expert JustAnotherFlutist

Years later, Michele has enjoyed much success in the world of contemporary piano, releasing seventeen albums and receiving numerous nominations, awards, and very positive reviews – even appearing on the Billboard charts and winning the People’s Choice award in the One World Music Awards.

Musical U interviewed this inspiring pianist and composer on her early and deliberate career beginnings, her intuitive, aural approach to composition, and a typical day in the life of a professional musician who is continuously exploring new musical avenues.

I began playing when I was around 5 years old. I would play music by ear, learning to play my favorite melodies or songs I heard in school, or on TV.

My mom put me in lessons when I was 7 years old, and I hated it. I stopped after just a few lessons because I didn’t want to play classical music, and I felt that it took the fun out of playing. I much preferred to just play by ear and learn on my own.

I started composing when I was 8 years old, and from there I preferred to just write my own music rather than figure out how to play other people’s music. I started improvising and making up melodies and songs that made my heart sing. Back then my music was very basic and simple, but it was a great beginning that has turned into something wonderful.

I released my first album many years later, when I was in my late 20’s.

George Winston was my biggest influence when I was little. I learned to play many of his songs by ear before I started composing my own music. I listened to his music all the time, along with Mannheim Steamroller and various artists from Windam Hill Records. Later, I was inspired by Jim Brickman and Paul Cardall. Currently, I’m most inspired by Ludovico Einaudi, Chad Lawson, Doug Hammer and Neil Patton.

I love to compose in the morning after I get up for the day. I like to spend at least 30 minutes just playing and improvising at my piano, seeing what comes out based on how I’m feeling.

I record a lot of what I improvise on my phone so that I can refer back to it if I improvised something particularly interesting or appealing.

Once a song starts to develop, I will focus all my effort and energy on that piece until it’s fully formed. Once I have it memorized and under my fingers, I’ll work on the development of it until it’s a finished piece. This process can take minutes, or days. Usually it’s very fast.

My first album was recorded using a digital piano and a tape recorder, and I released it on cassette tape. It was extremely makeshift, but it was intended for gifts for Christmas for friends and family.

After that release was so well received, I bought a Yamaha Clavinova digital piano and recorded my albums via MIDI, which I had mastered in my uncle’s home recording studio. I released 6 of my albums this way, on CD. From there I recorded 3 of my albums live in the studio on a Yamaha C7, and after I bought my own C7, I recorded at home.

I currently still record at home on my Fazioli F212 with my own home recording studio, and have my mastering engineer do all the post work for me at his studio.

Recording and performing are two separate things for me. My first live performance wasn’t until 2007, when I shared the stage with Gary Girouard when he came to Utah to perform and invited me to be a guest performer.

I slowly began doing shows in the years after, and my first full length tour was in 2012 with Scott D. Davis. We did a second tour around the entire US in 2013. After that I did several tours with other musicians, and in the last couple of years have reduced the amount I tour to work on other musical projects.

I also run my own in-home concert series at my house in Utah. I do about 8 concerts a year out of my home. As of today, I’ve performed in over 250 concerts around the US.

It started as a hobby, really. I made albums for my friends and family as Christmas gifts each year.

I put my music on iTunes in 2003, and it started selling a lot better than I expected. In 2005 I became part of Whisperings Solo Piano Radio, and in 2007 I had my first performance. By that time I was making enough money with music sales to cover my bills, and as a leap of faith, I decided to pursue music full time. I quit my day job in June 2007 to follow that dream, and have been a full-time professional musician ever since.

I worked in Project Management before I quit my day job to pursue music full time, so I have a background in administrative work.

Running a music business is a lot more of the administrative side than it is the creative side. I spend most of my day in my office handling customer service, social media, engagement, advertising, marketing, bookkeeping, music releases, and streaming.

I spend a few hours at the piano most days, but there are other days where I don’t touch my piano at all. And, as a business owner, I work way more than I ever did at an 8-5 day job.

It was instrumental and the sole way I learned how to play. Even now, I memorize and play my own compositions by ear. If I can’t remember how to play something I wrote from a long time ago, all I have to do is listen back so I can remember how to play it.

I can’t read or write music. I hire a transcriptionist to transcribe my music for me, and a proofer to make sure the transcriptions are correct.

Improvisation is the key element in how I compose. I improvise at the piano daily, and if something catches my ear as particularly wonderful, I’ll turn it into a song for release. My improvisation is largely emotion based – I just play what feels good in the moment.

Stretch outside your comfort zone and don’t be afraid to mess up. Sometimes it’s those “mistakes” that produce the best music. Improvisation is about exploring the keys and finding a story in the notes. Let your emotions and imagination drive it… pay attention to what you’re feeling or thinking when you improvise. Use the keys and notes as your canvas as though you’re painting a picture. Practice improvising daily and make it a part of your practice routine. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

Play from your heart. Use the piano as your tool for expression, creativity, therapy, and release. Write music because you love it, and it’s part of who you are, not because you’re trying to make a career out of it. When you make music for you, and you alone, because it’s your therapy, and creative release and outlet, that’s where the magic happens.

Connect to it, feel it, love it, be part of it. I often joke that the piano and my music is similar to that scene in the movie Avatar, where they connect their braids together. For me, that’s what playing is like. I connect to the piano and I let my heart and soul out through the music.

One World Music is a great group of people who play and support independent musicians in the New Age, World, Ambient, and Contemporary genres. They do a lot to support us and our music, and help us gain exposure.

They have an awards ceremony each year to honor their best albums of the year. I was nominated in the Best Solo Piano album category, as well as the People’s Choice category. My friend Shoshana Michel won the Best Solo Piano Album, and I won the People’s Choice award. It was very exciting and I was honored to be included in this years awards.

Right now I’m focusing on releasing singles. I’ve released 4 singles this year, and a couple last year. I released my third Christmas album last winter, and when I have 10-12 singles completed, I’ll release them on an official album.

I just got home from a week long cruise with Audiosyncracy At Sea, where I was a guest performer. I’ve got several concerts in my home concert series coming up, the next one is on July 14th with my guitarist friend, Lance Allen. I’m also working on some official video releases, and special YouTube series too. Staying busy and always working on new ideas and projects.

Playing and Composing – The Aural Way

30 seconds into listening to any of Michele’s compositions, one thing becomes very clear: this is music written with feeling, spontaneity, and expressivity. The fact that Michele does not read or write music has clearly not hurt her – rather, it has made her an intuitive, mesmerizing player who is free from reliance on transcription and sheet music.

The key to her success is music education’s best-kept secret: a focus on ear training, aural skills, and playing by ear. These skills make for more musical performances and a deep connection between the composer and their music.

Developing your ear training skills is something you can easily incorporate into your music practice. Try playing out the melody line of your favourite song, or learning to recognize intervals by ear using solfa, or challenging yourself to play your favourite piece of music as expressively as you can, rather than as flawlessly as you can.

The post Off the Page and with Feeling, with Michele McLaughlin appeared first on Musical U.

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We wanted to do something special to mark Episode 100 – and we’ll tell you in a minute what we’ve got for you, it’s truly something remarkable.

So we talked about what to do in the team. And we’re all hugely appreciative of *you* and everybody who listens to the show. So we thought about asking for listener contributions of comments or questions.

But the thing is, for the most part, you guys are pretty shy! We know from the download numbers that there are a ton of people listening, but it’s relatively rare that we get a new review or someone reaches out by email or leaves us a voice message.

And we get that! Hey, a big part of what we do at Musical U is helping people become more confident in music and be proud that they’re actively learning the skills that most people assume require musical “talent”. But we know a lot of you listening aren’t there yet – So it would be a bit nuts to expect our podcast listeners to be rushing forwards bravely to put themselves out there and get in touch!

So we didn’t do that. But we did just want to mention it here so you all know how much we appreciate you, remind you that you are always welcome to get in touch at musicalitypodcast.com/hello – and give us the opportunity to say a big thank you for listening to the show.

A special thank you of course to our *members* at Musical U who’ve trusted us with their musicality training and provide the financial support we need to put this podcast out for free every week.

So when we were talking with the team about what we could do to celebrate hitting Episode 100 the other idea that quickly came up was that we could recap some of the stand-out lessons and quotes from our amazing interviewees.

Which would be cool. But you know what would be even cooler? If we could get those same superstars to contribute something fresh and new – and something that would be really impactful on *your* musical life.

So that’s what we did. And a huge thank you to all our past guests who contributed a clip. We were hoping to get a handful back – and ended up with 26 contributions!

The question we asked was:

So what you have here – and these are going to run into a second episode too because there were so many! What you have here is an incredible collection of the most punchy insights and wisdom from more than two dozen of the world’s leading music educators and musicality experts, all in one place.

We have Gerald Klickstein, author of the must-have handbook for aspiring musicians, The Musician’s Way.

We’ve got the guys from the Music Student 101 podcast, my favourite podcast for learning about music theory.

We have #1 Billboard hit singer and award-winning song-writer Judy Rodman.

We have David Reed, the man behind the terrific Improvise For Real method for learning to improvise.

We have Forrest Kinney, author of the immensely popular Pattern Play series of piano books.

And I could go on and on…

This might actually blow your mind a little bit, we know that we had to take breaks when listening to the clips to let things sink in a bit before absorbing more! And we’re going to be splitting this episode in two, because there’s no way you could sensibly absorb all of this in one go…!

And speaking of jam-packed with amazing insights – before we dive into those answers from past guests, we must let you know about the Musicality Podcast Power Pack.

To celebrate hitting episode 100 and all of the amazing guests we’ve had, we went back into all the archives, collected together all 100 episodes and then we found and created a bunch of cool extra bonus resources and material to help you get the maximum possible impact from everything in the podcast so far. We’ve put it all on a handy USB thumb drive so you can literally have the world’s top musicality experts in the palm of your hand.

We’re making this available for a limited time only with free worldwide shipping. To get your copy, visit musicalitypodcast.com/celebrate – and of course not only will you be getting this fantastic resource to accelerate your own musicality training, you’ll also be supporting the show. We should also mention this would be an awesome gift for a musical friend or family member.

So if you enjoy the show, and whether you’ve listened to one episode or all hundred, please go check out musicalitypodcast.com/celebrate and see all the cool stuff we’ve packed into the Musicality Podcast Power Pack for you. This will be available for a limited time so go take a look today!

Okay, so in this episode you’re going to hear the first 11 experts answering the question:

These are in no particular order, except that I’ve tried to group them to make for two great episodes for you to listen to.

In this episode you’re going to hear:

• Respected author Forrest Kinney, talking about the adventure of playing.
• Saxophone guru Donna Schwartz with the one crucial thing that might be stopping your performance from sounding musical and resonating with your audience.
• Our very own Andrew Bishko talking about “practicing magic”.
• Jazz guitarist and the man behind Learn Jazz Standards Brent Vaartstra sharing the one thing you must focus on to have consistent long-term success.
• Improvisation expert David Reed about when to introduce improvising into your musicality training.
• Thought leader among piano teachers Dr. Melody Payne about the simple rules that can make you sound more musical.
• Award-winning musician and Lydian Chromatic Concept expert Andy Wasserman talking about the “treasure hunt” of unlocking your musicality.
• School music ed revolutionary Jimmy Rotheram talking about the four things which greatly impacted his own musicality.
• Award-winning artist, song-writer and vocal coach Judy Rodman explaining what makes music compelling for the audience.
• Natalie Weber from the world-famous Music Matters Blog on what helped her as an analytical person tap into her creative side.
• And our friends Matthew Scott Phillips and Jeremy Burns from Music Student 101 round off this first episode by sharing several activities which can help you continually “level up” your musicality.

Enough from me! Let’s dive in.

Listen to the episode:

Links and Resources

• Interview with Forrest Kinney
• Interview with Donna Schwartz
• Interview with Andrew Bishko
• Interview with Brent Vaartstra
• Interview with David Reed
• Interview with Melody Payne
• Interview with Andy Wasserman
• Interview with Jimmy Rotheram
• Interview with Judy Rodman
• Interview with Natalie Weber
• Interview with Music Student 101

Transcript

Forrest Kinney

Forrest Kinney: So the question is how to develop or how to tap into one’s inner musicality. This is Forrest Kenny and for me there’s really only one answer and that is to put away the scripts, put away the expectation that you have to be impressive or good or that you have to accomplish a lot or prove that you’ve accomplished a lot and just sit down at the piano as I’m doing right now and play. Play a tone. Listen to it and how does it make you feel? What does it make you want to do? Well maybe that’s not the sound I want. Maybe I want this sound. Maybe just start with a favorite sound.

Actually, for me, this is a nice sound this morning. And so what I’m doing is I’m immersing myself in that sound and I’m responding to the suggestions that it’s giving me. Now, I know that might sound a bit odd, but I believe if we listened to tones long enough, they do give us suggestions. This one is saying to me, “No.” Aah. Now that’s more what I feel like.

Now how did I know what to do? Well, I’ve been playing for decades and so my ears and my hands are all connected. So I get a sense of where to go, but even if that wasn’t it, I would have explored and experimented until maybe I would have found what I wanted. But it’s this process of playing and exploring and discovering where I think we really begin to have the essence of the music experience.

So, I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen next. Am I going to go here? Or am I going to go back here? Am I going to play a blues note? No. It’s an adventure and if I’m possessed by the idea that I need to be impressive or accomplish something or look good or play correctly, that’s gonna paralyze that cultivation of that responsiveness and sensitivity that’s really what musicality is all about. Musicality is our responsiveness to what we’re doing at a musical instrument.

So, what I try to help others to do is just to play like a child. To forget all these adult concerns and get to that essence and then the paradox is, when we do that, over time, we find that without any intention to be good, suddenly, we’re really sounding quite good. That’s the paradox. Without trying to be impressive, we become impressive. The core of it is, the connection with the sound, the responsiveness of the sound and the enjoyment of the sound just for the sake of making music. Not for any other purpose. It’s much like having the piano as a friend. We have friends because we enjoy their company. We enjoy spending time with them, having conversations. And that’s really the kind of relationship we cultivate with our instrument when we just sit down and play and have a conversation each day.

So, that’s what I encourage you and others to do, is get back to that, what I consider the essence of making music. So enjoy.

Donna Schwartz

Donna Schwartz: Hey, Donna Schwartz here from DonnaSchwartzmusic.com. The site to bring your saxophone playing up to the next level.

One thing, there’s so many things, oh my gosh. One thing that I learned from one of my mentors and it sticks with me to this day, not only when I’m playing but also when I’m teaching is this: If you’re improvising or if you’re creating a solo, you’ve got to make it rhythmic. Audiences react to rhythms a lot more than a thousand notes at a time. If you can make your solo sound more rhythmic so that people can feel what you’re trying to say, you’re going to get more of a greater response from the audience and it’s just going to feel right, it’s going to sit better.

Now, why am I giving this particular tip? I notice a lot, with a lot of students, a lot of people that reach out to me, they’re having problems playing particular solos or improvising. When I hear them, they’ve got the notes pretty well but there’s no sense of rhythm. There’s no sense of timing as people call it. In order to improve that timing, you’ve got to think about being rhythmic and really focusing on those rhythms because in solos, it’s not just about the notes, it’s also about the rhythms. Remember what Miles Davis said, “Silence is just as important as the notes.” That is a pretty big fact when it comes to being rhythmic. I hope that this tip helped you and I’m so happy for the musicality podcast, such a great podcast. I’ continue to urge people to listen to it.

Thanks so much.

Andrew Bishko

Andrew Bishko: Hello, this is Andrew Bishko from Napasha Music and from Musical U, receiving the question here, what’s one thing I’ve learned that could help musicians tap into their inner musicality? The first thing is to really claim that I have something to share about my inner musicality. I always feel like I’m such a baby in music, there is so much left to learn, but I’m right here and now claiming I do have something to share. When I look at musicians that I admire and I watch them perform and see them really getting into the music, when music seems to be a part of their inner expression, it’s magic. It looks like magic to me, and the one thing I’ve learnt is that I too can learn to practice magic. For me the practice of magic really began when I started playing Klezmer music, and I had to really look deeply into the melodies that I was making.

I was encouraged to play melodies, pick a melody and then play it many many times over, and play it in all different kinds of way. Changing the dynamics, the articulation, changing the rhythm, slowing the melody way down and focusing my attention on every single note and the meaning of every single note within that melody. I learned that there is no such thing as a repeated note. That every new note, every note, is a new event in time. It has its own fragrance, its own special qualities, its own gravity. This focus on melodies, on spending quality time with my melodies, became such an enjoyable practice for me and it’s affected everything that I do with music.

So even now when I play chords, I have this sensitivity to how things are moving through time and how I can maybe just make a little change in my timbre or a slight change in the dynamics or articulation, that will add more meaning to what’s happening in that moment. And I get into it and I enjoy it. It’s so pleasurable. So I want to encourage you all to find that one musical thing that you love to do, that you want to practice over and over again, that you want to delve into the depths of it, find every little nuance. To play something over and over and over and find the nuances in all the different ways you can do it. Whether you’re improvising or playing something that’s already been played before, take that attention to slow down and enjoy your melodies, and you’ll find that magic within yourself. So I invite you all to be musical magicians. Thank you so much. Bye bye.

Brent Vaartstra

Brent Vaartstra: Hey, what’s up, this is Brent Vaartstra from learnjazzstandards.com. If there’s something that I’ve learned throughout my musical journey that I think can help others tap in to their inner musicality, it’s not something scales. It’s not learn this song. It’s not here’s this music theory concept. It’s actually a lot simpler than that, and it is learn the stuff that gives you energy.

Learn the stuff that gives you energy because at the end of the day, what’s going to help keep you motivated and what’s going to make you feel energized to continue on throughout your musical journey through the times where things are tough, where you may feel like you’ve hit a plateau. Maybe you feel like you’re not improving fast enough. Maybe you are comparing yourself to other musicians who are better than you.

If there’s one thing that’s going to help you get over those hurdles is by feeling energized by what you are learning. That means that sometimes, it’s not learning the things that everybody is telling you to do. You don’t have to learn that scale or learn that particular piece. Sometimes, those things while they’re all important, those things aren’t the things that are going to get you out of bed.

At the end of the day, we’re all playing the music because we love it, because it gives us joy and we have to remember that. If there’s a particular piece of music that you really want to learn, go ahead and learn that. Throughout that process, you’re going to learn all the other musical lessons along the way. Maybe there’s a tune or a song that you really want to play but you’re not quite there yet. Then you can put that up there as a goal, as something to reach for. That’s your thing that’s giving you energy that you’re going to climb up the ladder step by step to get to that point.

Always be searching for that thing that gives you energy and that’s what keeps me excited to improve as a musician is always searching and reaching for that thing. I think if we’re all doing that, we’re going to learn all the musical lessons that we need to learn along the way and improve as musicians.

David Reed

David Reed: Hi, this is David Reed. I’m the founder of Improvise For Real and the creator of most of the learning materials at improviseforreal.com. I think the tip that I would like to share is to make creativity and your own freedom of expression on your instrument a really fundamental part of your practicing right from the very beginning.

In other words, don’t think of expressing your own music or being creative in music as something that comes later, maybe after you’ve learned a bunch of theory or you’ve mastered your instrument or you’ve learned a bunch of scales, but rather think of it as an important part of the way that you learn about all these musical materials in the first place, just the same way we would study any other art form. If you take a painting class, you’ll be learning techniques and you’ll be learning about materials and things but right from the first day you’ll also be making your own paintings.

You’ll have to make your own decisions about how to use the things that you’re learning and you’ll have some creative freedom there. That’s a wonderful thing that you can apply in music as well. I’ll give you a very simple example of how to do that. Let’s say you’re starting out and you’re just learning the notes of a single major scale. That’s really all you need. Well instead of just practicing that scale mechanically up and down with a metronome, go get yourself a jam track in that key, put the jam track on in the background and improvise freely with the notes of that scale.

It’s going to sound beautiful because every note of your scale is going to harmonize perfectly with that backing track. That’s the whole magic of playing in the key of the music, is that everything sounds great. You’ll still be getting your technical practice because you’ll be playing the notes but you’ll also be developing yourself creatively and you’ll be really getting a headstart on learning about harmony and composition and the music that you can make with these sounds.

That would be my tip, is don’t wait to include creative activities in your practicing. Make it a basic part of the way that you’re learning about music right from the beginning.

Melody Payne

Melody Payne: Hi, this Melody Payne of melodypayne.com and I wanted to share with you one thing that I’ve learned to help students play more musically from the very beginning. I wrote a blog post about three rules for magical, musical, moving performances and I believe that we can give our students concrete rules of playing musically from the very beginning.

Such as when the notes go higher, play more loudly. When the notes go lower, play more softly and usually the last notes of a piece are the softest. Those are the three rules that I usually give to my students and before long, they’re playing musically automatically without even thinking about it.

Andy Wasserman

Andy Wasserman: Hello. This is musical artist Andy Wasserman. Certified instructor of George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, The Art and Science of Tonal Gravity. I’m honored to be able to tell you something I share with students that may shed light on their ability to tune into their inner musicality.

As a lifelong full time professional musician, what intrigues me about this question is the key word inner, the interior perspective is indispensable if the wisdom required to uncover our innate talent is awakened and taken to a higher level where it’s free to grow and flourish. Imagine with me for a moment, that your awesome process of music making is like a treasure hunt. No matter what age you are, level, style, or whatever instruments you play, unlike the children’s game where a map gives clues to search an external location for the treasure, our musical treasure hunt is internal.

Now, imagine we’re searching for a treasure chest. Inside it is musical gold, our priced, unparalleled individual sound. It’s as unique as your fingerprint. Some people call this the universal sound but the cool thing is this, the treasure is actually in our very own chest. This singular treasure in your chest is where you’ll discover your sound and the most necessary thing of all, the heartbeat of rhythm and the fountain of emotion. It’s the basis for meaningful, enjoyable, and authentic music.

While creating our music, this inner music is our center of gravity. I like to say, it’s the music in us that hears the music. Connecting inwardly opens the door to listening in a new way. The hidden meaning within the treasure trove of sounds in our heart has the capacity to resonate as pure joy while we play as long as we trust it. That is why so many of us devout so much energy to the musical process because we simply love doing it.

Working on becoming the best listener we can be, brings balance into our lives and allows us to express our humanity, and in expressing ourselves through this ancient language called music, we have the humbling opportunity to return the inner resonance of our sound back to its source.

Jimmy Rotheram

Jimmy Rotheram: Hi, I’m Jimmy Rotheram from Feversham Primary Academy. I’m the music coordinator here. I’ve been asked by the guys at the Musicality Podcast to give some tips on how to tap into your inner musicality.

I’d say the first rule of any kind of music making is it should be ultimately a pleasurable experience. If you’re practicing and practicing, it should be with an end in sight and with a goal in sights, or otherwise it can just be frustrating and it can become quite a grind. If you find that practicing is becoming like that, then maybe it’s time to take a few steps back or do something completely different rather than sort of sticking at it and getting yourself very frustrated.

It is true that the more you put in, the more you get out of music but it’s also important that it should be a pleasurable experience. The thing I would recommend most for anyone who wants to improve the musicianship is to get some Kodály training. For me it works wonders. I was always a musician that could play by ear and I’ve been able to do it since I was a very small child. However, I always found reading music very, very difficult. The way that it was explained to me at school, dotted crotchet is worth three quavers and a quaver’s worth half a crotchet. It was explained in a very mathematical way. I was particularly good at math. What helped me was having rhythm as movement, and that’s rhythm’s syllables. A quaver’s not a TiTi. A crotchet’s ta so a rhythm would be something like ta, tee, tee, tica tica, taw. Titi, ta, tika, tika, ta. Far more easy than trying to think, “Well, that’s worth half of one of them and that’s worth two and a half of one of them.” It’s really hard work.

One of the things that Kodály training really improved my sight reading to the point where I’m actually saying now I’m quite good at it which I never, ever thought would be possible.

Another great tool that you learn through Musicianship and Kodály training is relative solfa. I always explain the benefit of solfa as being it makes some very difficult things suddenly very easy. For example, if we’re trying to sing the Locrian mode, the way I was taught that was that the Locrian mode has the most alterations of any scales so it would have a flattened second, a flattened third, a flattened fifth, the flattened sixth, a flattened seventh, and you’re trying to work all that out in relations were made to scales. Very, very difficult indeed.

There’s a really easy way of doing it and that’s simply to do “do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do, ti, la, so, fa, me, ray, do”. But start in ti instead so you go “ti, do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, la, so, fa, mi, re, do, ti”. That makes it much, much, much easier.

As well as the Kodály training, I would recommend joining a choir. Joining a choir is a great way of just picking up lots of musicality and a lot of it will happen unconsciously, but you’ll get a very big understanding of how many are of good sense of pitch, very good sense of tone, a sense of working with other musicians, and synchronizing with them and bouncing with them. I’m not sure if you get an opportunity if you’re an instrumental player, join the band, or join the choir, even if it’s just as a hobby because that will keep you motivated to keep practicing and keep your standards up.

Finally, I would say get a good teacher. You cannot underestimate the value of a good teacher. I had things that I was getting frustrated on and I practiced it for weeks, and weeks, and weeks, and I was on end. All that it took was a really good teacher just to kind of move me away from the piano to a bit movement away from the piano and then a few little tweaks to my technique. All of a sudden, I could play these things that I’ve never dreamt myself able to ever do and also it was very easy for me. I didn’t need to do hours and hours of practice, just a few top tips from a top teacher, really, really made all the difference to me.

So there are my big main tips for tapping into your inner musicality. Remember, that everybody’s musical. It’s a myth, things like tone deafness and being unmusical – everybody’s musical if you get the right sort of experiences and the right sort of training. Good luck to everybody. All the best with it and do enjoy it and believe that you can do it.

Thank you very much. Bye.

Judy Rodman

Judy Rodman: This is Judy Rodman of judyrodman.com.

The subject of tapping into one’s musicality is fascinating. What awakens the muse to create musical expression?

In my work as a singer and songwriter and vocal coach and producer and musician, I have found that the most important thing is to remember that all art, including musical expression, is about creating messages.

Sometimes as with carving sculptures, the message only becomes clear as we make choices to explore melodic twists and turns. To add or clear away surplus chords, riffs or embellishments. Practicing technique is important but it can’t be the end goal if one wishes to dig deep into one’s creative source.

So how do you find a message? I find it really, really useful to ask questions. What is this guitar riff, keyboard pad or chord progression saying? Listen deeply and I swear there will be words. Or, what tempo, major or minor chord, melody or harmony choice would best express the heart of this message? And most importantly, to whom am I delivering this message? To what one heart? If I get through with the message, what would that look like, in the listener’s body language?

The point of your musicality spear will sharpen when you ask these questions. Great music delivers messages that get specific responses from specific hearts, so it follows that creating great music involves exploring, choosing and intending to deliver great messages. Especially those that somehow, in some way, make the world a better place.

Natalie Weber

Natalie Weber: Hi. My name is Natalie Weber from musicmattersblog.com. One of the things that has been the most helpful to me over the years with my music education is learning to really listen and giving myself time and space to experiment and create, specifically at the piano since that’s my instrument.

As somebody with a pretty driven type A personality, a lot of my music studies and then even as I got into teaching music were centered on getting things right or checking things off of a list and so, it was a pretty big step and sometimes, honestly felt like a bit of a step backwards, but just to not worry so much about what I was accomplishing and just to take time to explore and to create and to listen to different sounds.

One of the things that was helpful in taking that step was just seeking out different tools and resources and people who encouraged that kind of experimentation and exploration at the piano and then, building up a repertoire of tools that could help me in that whether it was a specific chord progression to try improvising different things or different compositional ideas, just things that helped me break outside of the box and the traditional mold of just read it off the page, check it off the list and move on.

That’s been huge in my own music development and interestingly, has helped me in reading music and building my strengths as well as helping give me tools to grow in areas where I tended to be a little bit weaker.

Matthew Scott Phillips and Jeremy Burns

Jeremy Burns: Hello, Chris and all those at the musicality podcast.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Hello.

Jeremy Burns: Congratulations on your 100th episode. I am Jeremy Burns.

Matthew Scott Phillips: And I am Matthew Scott Phillips.

Jeremy Burns: We are from the podcast music student 101.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Yes.

Jeremy Burns: And we have been giving a great question from Adam Lee over at the musicality podcast. He says, “what’s one thing that you’ve learned that could help musicians tap into their inner musicality?”

Matthew Scott Phillips: Tap into their inner musicality? That is a big question.

Jeremy Burns: Let us define that just in case people don’t fully … If you haven’t listened to 100 episodes of musicality podcast and don’t know what musicality is, according to webster’s musicality is, musical talent or sensitivity. The quality of having a pleasant sound or a melodiousness.

Matthew Scott Phillips: And if you ask our musicality podcast, they just saying, basically it’s musicianship.

Jeremy Burns: It is musicianship.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Pure and simple.

Jeremy Burns: So tell me, Matt.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Yes.

Jeremy Burns: What are some things that you could … that you found that has helped tapped into your musicality?

Matthew Scott Phillips: If I had to offer advice on this subject, I would say, just listen to music. Listen actively to music and try to understand what’s going on in whatever way you feel comfortable. Try to understand the chord progressions, the phrases, try to understand how that all works together. Sit there and think about it, sit there and listen to music. Actually listen to these principles at work. It can be very easy to get bogged down and music theory ideas or in practice routines or in learning the sound or this or learning this or that concept. And we can forget that all of these concepts came from music. Music doesn’t come from the concepts. The concepts come from music.

Jeremy Burns: Very nice.

Matthew Scott Phillips: I would say, listen to as much music as you can. Listen to different music. Go outside your comfort zone, listen to something you don’t listen to a lot of and try to understand how that works, what it’s trying to do and how it’s going about doing that. Do that a lot and you will find … I have found at least that that has helped my musicality more than anything else, just relishing in that sense of wonder I feel whenever I hear really good music.

Jeremy Burns: And you’re also … It sounds like you’re also kind of listening to other types of music that you’re not quite as familiar or comfortable with.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Oh, sure.

Jeremy Burns: And maybe applying some of your analysis, some of your theory analysis to that.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Absolutely. Yeah, it’s all the same 12 notes so that … you can think about … you can listen to a lot of things and apply what you know and it is a source of constant enrichment, it’s as a source of constant growth.

Jeremy Burns: Your method is based on more theory and ear training and kind of applying the knowledge that we are sharing with you guys and the musicality podcast is sharing with you guys.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Yeah, absolutely. Applying some theory, applying some ideas and also just … If you don’t hear any of that, that’s okay. Just listen and listen actively. Not have it on the background while you’re studying or something, but actually listen and pay attention.

Jeremy Burns: Okay, very good. I want to share my perspective from a performance standpoint.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Excellent.

Jeremy Burns: And this is something that came to me a long time ago, even when I was first learning how to play the bass and I’ll just lay in bed with the lights off and just play my bass and just get to know the fret board, get to know the instrument, gets to know how it feels to where it becomes an extension of yourself. That’s how intimate you want to get with your instrument, but that takes a lot of time and work to do.

Matthew Scott Phillips: It does.

Jeremy Burns: But keep in the back of your mind that as you’re doing this, anytime you even think about your instrument or music or notes that you play or sounds that you hear, anytime you pick up your instrument, if not to some nano degree, you’re getting that much better. It’s kind of like gaining experience points in the role playing game of music.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Even if you’re just noodling around.

Jeremy Burns: Yeah. Noodling, that’s a good one. What would you call that, Grinding?

Matthew Scott Phillips: Grinding.

Jeremy Burns: Grinding from experience points?

Matthew Scott Phillips: I tell you, one of the best decisions I ever made in my life was deciding I could not afford to buy the bass guitar and also a case. Because if I had put it in my case, I would have put it in the case and put it under the bed and largely forgotten about it, right? But because it was just sort of sitting in my room, every time I walked in I would pick it up.

Jeremy Burns: Saying, “Play me.”

Matthew Scott Phillips: Yeah, I would pick it up and I would play around and I would try to play whatever song was in my head at that moment or something and it helped me become really familiar, not just with my instrument but the way my music, the way my instrument functions.

Jeremy Burns: To even do that, to even set up some kind of a system for yourself that has that in consideration, shows the amount of passion that you have for music, you itself and I think that the innate passion that someone has about music for music is evident if they’ve made it to this episode.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Absolutely.

Jeremy Burns: Or episode 50 for our podcasts that is coming up. I think if the passion is there, It kind of comes naturally. But all those little things, if you do them, they can add to your musicality or your musicianship or just your relationship with music.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Yeah. Don’t forget, play with people.

Jeremy Burns: Play with people. That’s another important thing because you’re not going to know how to get in the pocket with yourself. Right? I don’t think.

Matthew Scott Phillips: I think you’re always perpetually in the pocket with yourself, right?

Jeremy Burns: Right, yeah. Sometimes you need a, maybe a drum player with a better sense of tempo than you do to really show you where the pocket is and if someone to work with and find the pocket together.

Matthew Scott Phillips: It helps your people skills too.

Jeremy Burns: Help your people skills.

Matthew Scott Phillips: It helps your collaborative abilities.

Jeremy Burns: Which is extremely important, I think, in the business world in music.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Yeah.

Jeremy Burns: And just playing with other people.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Yeah. Playing with other people.

Jeremy Burns: Because what do we always say? They’re not going to call you and say, “hey, we were going to get you for this Gig, but you’re just beep.” And we don’t want to work with beeps.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Yeah.

Jeremy Burns: They just won’t call you. They’ll call the next person who’s not a beep.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Yeah, and work with him or her. Yeah, absolutely. All of those things are important. All of those things are actually more important than being good, I think, at least in terms of enhancing your musicality, I mean if you and your buddies start a band to play around just because you like it. You don’t have to be the next dream theater. Just the fact that you’re playing together is enhancing the musicality. Just the fact that you’re sitting and playing your instrument in your room and it’s in your hands and you’re thinking about it. Just the fact that you’re listening to music with an ear towards, “well why does this music doing.” All of these things are extraordinarily important in your growth as a musician.

Jeremy Burns: Right?

Matthew Scott Phillips: The things that are often … can be overlooked in our quest for conceptual understanding, right?

Jeremy Burns: Right. Yeah, and of course, keep on listening to the musicality podcast.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Absolutely. They’re doing a great job over there.

Jeremy Burns: And check out and musical you, because I’ve been really digging that. I’ve been getting a lot from musical you.

Matthew Scott Phillips: And it’s a great little resource. It really is.

Jeremy Burns: It really is. Thanks again, Christopher Sutton. Thanks again, musicality podcast and thanks again musical you.

Matthew Scott Phillips: Thank you guys so much and congratulations on your 100th.

The post Unlocking Your Musicality: Part One appeared first on Musical U.

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