Throughout the course of a musician’s journey usually comes a time when they are intrigued with songwriting. Modern day technology has made it possible for people to write songs using an app on their smart phones. We live at a time where the average person has production tools right at their fingertips. Famous composers like […]
Music Lessons
Don’t cut music and art from our schools.
It seems like I hear every couple days that a school somewhere in Michigan just cut all of their funding for the music program and the art program. I understand that decisions have to be made and people often assume that music and art are not subjects that are necessary. I am someone who has […]
Eight Year Old Plays Stratosphere On Guitar
It’s always impressive to see young children to play with virtuosity on their electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano or any other instrument. The 8 year old in the video has some very remarkable talent on the electric guitar. There are many young musicians who play masterfully, but I was still astonished when I saw it. […]
GP Music Academy in Canton
GP Music Academy in Canton Township is quickly becoming a popular place for music lessons in the western wayne county area. The original location in Grosse Pointe Park expanded to offering a 2nd location which currently features Guitar Lessons, Bass Guitar Lessons, Drum Lessons, Violin Lessons, Viola Lessons, Voice Lessons, and Music Together classes. Private […]
More about Tablature
Now that Wikipedia is done with it’s 24 hour blackout I had a chance to research more about the topic of tablature. I know how many of you were absolutely enthralled with yesterday’s tablature article so I’ve decided to write another one. The first known occurrence in Europe is around 1300, and was first used […]
Tablature
I often get asked the question as to whether or not a guitar student should learn to read guitar tablature or bass tablature. Many people have the notion that tablature is a new thing that guitarists use to short-cut their way to learning to read music. After studying both standard notation and tablature for a […]
Grosse Pointe Music Academy Helps Crossroads Reach New High
2011/Crossroads East Giving Reaches New High We’re happy to report that once again, we have set a new record by giving 13,044 pounds of food to Crossroads East in 2011. This topped our 2010 total of 10,204, by 2,840 pounds. Here are a few highlights: We continue to be probably the largest supplier of fresh […]
Is it too late for me to take music lessons?
Many people have a preconceived notion about which age someone is to begin taking guitar lessons, piano lessons, voice lessons, and other instruments. Minimum age recommendations are based on general observations and for the most part should be adhered to. There is no such thing as maximum age requirements when wanting to learn a musical […]
Playing by ear
Musicians like to classify themselves in many different ways including whether or not they “play by ear”. It’s funny to me that so many are quick to say that they “play by ear”. I think that it is a defensive attitude which really means “I can’t read music”. The reason I say this is because […]
Grosse Pointe Music Academy Teacher Spotlight
Before moving on to attain a Jazz studies degree from Wayne State University, Levi Henson taught himself to play rock and pop music on the guitar. At 11 years old, he wanted to play like Eric Clapton on his Fender electric guitar. Once he picked up the guitar, Levi never put it back down. He […]
Who came up with the blues?
Blues musicians sing and play in a scale that is like a major scale but with ambiguous third, seventh, and sometimes sixth degrees. The variable degrees tend to be more often minor than major, but what really distinguishes blues music is the fact that the harmony is always derived from the major scale, and the […]
Meet our Music Together Teachers!
We at the Grosse Pointe Music Academy would like to give you a glimpse into the background of our wonderful Music Together teachers. Our teachers all complete an in-depth Music Together training and come to us with a rich background of music experiences, including college music degrees. Come and meet these wonderful teachers in person […]
Inspiration and Information
If you sign up for music lessons hoping to get some good information then you will definitely get that from the teachers at Grosse Pointe Music Academy. Our teachers have University training which will give you the certainty that the information you are getting will be the most accurate and up-to-date information available in the […]
Meet our Music Together Director!
It seems kind of funny to write a blog about myself, but I hope to share my passion and commitment to the Music Together program through what I write. I can remember making music as early as 3 years old, practicing my Suzuki violin lessons while my mom accompanied me on piano. Making music was […]
A MUSICAL CHEST OF DRAWERS
As a teacher myself, I relish those opportunities to talk with parents about what they see to be happening musically in their children. I have a fantastic class where most of the families have been attending the program since we began, for 5 consecutive semesters now. The growth I’ve seen in those continuing children and […]
More info about Intervals
It’s common for beginning guitar players to use a basic chord chart to learn some of the fundamental guitar positions. Most beginning guitar chords charts will show chords consisting of 4 strings, 5 strings, or 6 strings. It’s not nearly as common to find a method or chart that concentrates on learning to play simple […]
Happy New Year
Happy 2012 to everyone! It indeed is the new year and as we all know, the new year typically brings about a renewed feeling for most people in some or all aspects of their lives. Many people will make their resolutions public and some will quietly seek out the change that they desire. Spending more […]
What should I do about poor rhythm?
The answer to this is so simple. It’s should be the easiest thing to do but it somehow perplexes people to the point of giving up on playing music all together. It’s really too bad because if most of the people baffled by rhythm had just been willing to SLOW DOWN then they wouldn’t have […]
Musical Intervals and their names
Musical intervals can be likened to measurements that we learn early in life like the inch, the foot, the yard and so on. Music notes are are also given names for the space that exists between two points. In the most basic way, intervals can be defined as the distance between two musical notes. Musicians […]
How to write creative music
Creative writing in music can happen in many different ways and begin from many different angles. If you’re a singer or just someone who thinks up songs and melodies, you might want to learn to play guitar or piano to provide accompaniment for your singing. In this method, the creative process will first begin with […]