I seem to hear more and more everyday how music helps to heal people. Maybe one day then musicians and music therapists will be as rich as the drug companies! I doubt that will ever be the case but it seems a little odd to me that music treatments haven’t become more mainstream. The article […]
Grosse Pointe
Make music when practicing
The title of this blog comes from Mark Levine’s very popular Jazz Theory book. I think it is important for musicians practicing all styles to “make music when practicing” rather than just Jazz musicians. It’s common for people to think about playing those dreaded scales over and over again at the piano, guitar, or any […]
Balduck Mountain Ramblers
Greetings Everyone! Ben Steel will return to the Wildwood Friendly Tavern this coming Saturday, the 11th, from 8 pm to 11 pm. As always, this venue […]
Songwriting classes at GPMA
Songwriting is something that all musicians can engage in regardless of the instrument that they play and what level they are at. It is certainly helpful to know more and be well practiced on your instrument when writing songs, but learning the skills of songwriting can begin at anytime. Some of the most popular songwriters […]
What makes instruments sound different from one another?
When you listen to music, there are generally multiple instruments playing at the same time during part of or all of the song. Sometimes there might be two different instruments such as the guitar and piano, both playing the same note in the same octave at the same time. Each instrument has a unique sound […]
The Music Together Difference
If you’ve been searching for a music class for your young child, you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to Music Together of Grosse Pointe, held at the Grosse Pointe Music Academy. We are music and movement program for children ages 0-5, and the grown-ups who love them! We offer research-based music education, in a […]
Temperament: Information for real musical nerds
You would think that the ideal way to tune your piano would be to make each of the consonant intervals sound exactly in tune, so that no beating could be heard. Indeed, many musicians have long regarded this as sort of ideal, but it doesn’t work out very well on a keyboard with only twelve […]
Band in a Box
Yesterday I talked for a bit about the mid-nineties device call the PMA-5 by Roland. The program on that little gadget is similar to what someone working with “Band in a Box” might experience today. Band in a Box is essentially a musical engine that generates music based on what you specify for the style, […]
Songwriting Workshop
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 […]
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 […]
Guitar Theft – Protect yourself.
We all love and cherish our instruments. Musicians often feel a unique connection with the instruments that they play. That is why it is such a tragedy to us when we have an instrument stolen. Having anything stolen is a terrible thing, but having something as personal as one’s guitar taken from them so callously is […]
Can I convert my guitar to left handed?
In most cases a right handed instrument can be easily converted to a left handed instrument. In fact, on a classical guitar, the conversion may be as simple as restringing it. The saddles on classical guitars typically have no compensation angle, and the nylon strings are close enough in diameter that the nut slots are often […]
12 Violinists Known for Something Else
The violin is considered by many to be the thinking man’s instrument, famously played by the likes of Albert Einstein and Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional genius Sherlock Holmes. Here are 12 other celebrities who fiddled around in their spare time: 1. Charlie Chaplin played the violin (and the cello) in a unique way: backwards – specially […]
Releasing tight or stuck bridge pins
Often times a player will go to restring their guitar, and discover that the bridge pins wont budge. This can be a frustrating experience, and can turn a simple procedure into a struggle. Luckily, there are a few tricks that can be used to make bridge pin extraction as painless as possible. The first thing […]
A quick fix for a bone nut
Have you ever seen a bone nut with a chunk missing or a chip in it? This is a fairly common situation. When this occurs, players often choose to replace the nut entirely, and there is nothing wrong with this. In fact, it is the best scenario. However, sometimes clients want a quick inexpensive fix. […]
What are scalloped frets?
Scalloped frets are most commonly used by “shred guitarists.” The concept is that by “scooping out” a portion of the fingerboard wood between the frets, the players fingers then never make contact with the wood, thus eliminating friction between the guitarist’s finger tips and the wood. This allows the player to run scales with more […]
Just a few general maintenance tips for players
There are a few things that guitar players can do to keep their guitars in good condition. These are very simple things that can make a world of difference for the longevity of your instruments life. First and foremost, most novice players do not change their strings often enough. A string’s life begins its process […]
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 […]