Chopsticks is the most popular piano song of all time. Some would make the argument for Heart and Soul or Beethoven’s Fur Elise. They’d be wrong. It’s Chopsticks. More people play Chopsticks than any other song when they come across an open piano. Why? Because it can actually be played with a pair of chopsticks. […]
Music Tips
Musical Boxing – Success vs. Excellence
Recently, I was talking with someone about my desire to become a professional boxer as a child. My father had a heavyweight prizefighter as a friend, and after watching him live, followed by hounding my parents for tickets to fights and going to a few more, I was hooked. I asked my parents time and […]
What Makes Music Together Unique?
What is it that makes Music Together unique? I’d love to share about it. There are many programs for early childhood music, all of which I’ve researched, and I strongly believe in these specific points about Music Together: – Based on Dr. Edwin Gordon’s Music Learning Theory, the most current research about how we learn when […]
Learn Guitar Chords on just three strings
If you’re a beginning guitar player or a guitarist with experience, you will no doubt have fun playing the different inversions of chords on just 3 strings of the guitar. It is very common for guitar teachers to teach the chords using 6, 5, or 4 strings during beginner guitar lessons. This is a good […]
The Suzuki “Mother Tongue” Concept
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki’s philosophy to music teaching is based on the Mother-Tongue Method, to teach music as a language. When children are born, they spend many months in the beginning, listening to the language (or languages) that surround them. Then begin the trial-and-error phase, where they receive affirmation from their caregivers when the baby babble […]
What are frets, and when should I have them replaced?
Frets are metal strips (usually nickel alloy) embedded along the fretboard (also called fingerboard) and located at exact points that divide the scale length in accordance with a specific mathematical formula. When a player presses a string against a fret it shortens the vibrating length of the string, thus […]
Playing the songs you’ve heard over and over
You might not really be interested in learning how to play “Jingle Bells”, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” or “Twinkle Twinkle”, but whether you like it or not these songs will play in your head every time they are mentioned. Don’t let the lyrics of these and other songs distract you from the truly valuable […]
Don’t let summer stop your groove
With the summer in full swing, many students are taking breaks from their music lessons to engage in more seasonal activities. What many students don’t realize, however, is the importance of continuing practice throughout their break; a point I often push on my students. As practice time diminishes, so do many of the important physical […]
It’s a real shame when folks be throwing away a perfectly good pink guitar like that
Shortly after I blogged about how inexpensive short-scale guitars are rare, I found this pink guitar in Harper Woods on trash day. It’s an inexpensive First Act child’s guitar, but after a thorough inspection I realized that the only thing wrong with […]
Get your child a full size guitar so they can grow into it…
Wait! The title to this post is all wrong. That is the absolute worst thing that you could do to a beginning guitarist! If you subscribe to this philosophy you may as well buy clothes that are too big for them so that they can grow into them. Don’t let an ignorant sales person at […]
Practice, Practice, Practice
If we could acquire cool skills without taking the time to practice them that would certainly allow us to have a multitude of abilities that would otherwise be impossible. Maybe in the future our brains will download information and allow our bodies to know the necessary actions to perform such abilities. As of right now […]
Upgrading your guitar to a bone nut and saddle.
Often times I am asked by customers what upgrades they can make to their guitars to improve the sound of their instrument. Most of the time, I advise them to replace their nut and saddle with one made from a bone material. This is a fairly low cost repair that is always an improvement. Most […]
6 Benefits of Music Education for Your Child
Early childhood music education is good for your child. It helps to develop brain areas of your child, develop critical problem solving skills, etc. In this article, let me highlight some of the benefits of music education: 1. Early musical training helps develop brain areas involved in language and reasoning. It is thought that brain […]
Music Education Helps Kids’ Brains With Sound Stimuli
By Erika Krull, MS, LMHP Music Education Helps Kids’ Brains With Sound Stimuli By Erika Krull, MS, LMHP I was in several music classes when I was in school. One of the most frustrating things for the teacher had to be chatty students in class. If the whole point of your activity is to […]
Taking Music Lessons with your son or daughter
Many people frequently ask us about taking lessons with their son or daughter. We typically get that request for guitar or piano lessons and some other instruments as well. Taking music lessons with your child can be an excellent bonding experience for beginning students. Children are very inspired by watching their parents play music. Seeing […]
Brain Research and Music Instruction in the Curriculum
The following article appears in the online version of the Los Angles Times and was written by Liz Bowie. For years, school systems across the nation dropped classes in the fine arts to concentrate on getting students to pass tests in reading and mathematics. Now, a growing body of brain research suggests that teaching […]
Group Lessons or Private Lessons???
Group music instruction is typically for beginners looking to learn the basic fundamentals of their musical instrument before committing to a more disciplined format of private lessons. Obviously, students will always get more attention in a one-on-one teacher student setting but group lessons function very well for people new to their instrument. Currently Grosse Pointe […]
Susan VanHecke, author of Raggin’ Jazzin’ Rockin’: A History of American Musical Instrument Makers
Hey, drumheads! So, you already know that Zildjian cymbals and Ludwig drums are among the world’s finest. But how much do you really know about the people behind the famous names? I’ve recently written a book to clue us all in: Raggin’ Jazzin’ Rockin’: A History of American Musical Instrument Makers, published by Boyds Mills Press, […]
Tips for making the most of your piano practice times
1. Piano practice must be done regularly. A shorter daily practice time is far more effective than one long practice time a day before your lesson. 2. Make piano practice a part of your daily routine. It might be a good idea to practice during the same hour each day. Some students find it helpful […]
The Value and Quality of Arts Education: A Statement of Principles
“Every student in the nation should have an education in the arts.” This is the opening statement of “The Value and Quality of Arts Education: A Statement of Principles,” a document from the nation’s ten most important educational organizations, including the American Association of School Administrators, the National Education Association, the National Parent Teacher Association, […]