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 […]
Grosse Pointe
Considering compensation for twelve string guitars
So, do you calibrate a twelve string guitar or not? It is a common question and a very valid one. With fretted instruments we are always battling the limitations of the equal tempered scale. I’ve discussed in previous posts how intonation and calibration works. Basically, frets are placed at a place where a mathematical compromise […]
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 […]
MUSIC TOGETHER WELCOMES YOU!
Happy New Year! In 2012, the Music Together program at the Grosse Pointe Music Academy is growing and thriving! As the director I’m so pleased to say that we had close to 50 families join us this fall. We grew from one class a week in 2010 to seven classes a week in 2011. What […]
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 […]
Rock drummers ‘are top athletes’
Playing the drums for a rock band requires the stamina of a Premiership footballer, research suggests. Tests on Clem Burke, the veteran Blondie drummer, revealed that 90 minutes of drumming could raise his heart rate to 190 beats a minute. Despite rock’s reputation for unhealthy living, Dr Marcus Smith, from Chichester University, said drummers needed […]
Ukulele Christmas
Guitar Players, Piano Players, Violin players, and all instrumentalists have enjoyed picking up the Ukulele and learning to strum simple chord accompaniments. Relatively speaking, Ukulele is an easy instrument with only 4 strings. Everybody thinks that the ukulele came from Hawaii. Well, while it’s true that the word ukulele is a Hawaiian word (it means, […]
The Victory Song of the Detroit Lions
Lyrics to Gridiron Heroes (verse) Hail the colors Blue and Silver let them wave. Sing their song and cheer the Gridiron Heroes brave, Fighting for fame, winning the game, Dashing to victory as they go. (chorus) Forward down the field, A charging team that will not yield. And when the Blue and Silver wave, Stand […]
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 […]
Gift Certificates for Music Lessons
Giving the gift of music lessons for the holidays can be a very rewarding gift for anyone with even just a little bit of musical interest. I hear from people all the time say things like “I’ve always wanted to play guitar” or “I’d love to play the piano, but I don’t have the time”. […]
The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook
Playing guitar with just the lyrics and the chords on a sheet of paper is a common practice of many guitar players. The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook is a collection of almost every Beatles song ever played and recorded by the Beatles. Using chord grids at the top of the page and chord symbols over […]
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 […]
The Theory of Jazz Music
In Mark Levine’s well known “Jazz Theory Book” he says that a great jazz solo consists of 1% magic and 99% stuff that is Explainable, Analyzable, Categorizable, and Doable. His book is all about the 99% part of it. In the introduction Levine goes on to say to say: ” There is no one single, […]
Spelling your scales
A scale is a series of notes that can be used to create chords and play melodies. When a musician first begins to understand scales and their purpose there are a number of ways to go about it. The process of learning the scales includes learning to write and identify notes on staff, playing the […]
Do I need to bother learning modes?
Modes are inversions of a particular series of notes. In music, notes are grouped into patterns called scales that are used commonly in songwriting. Major scales have 7 unique notes in them and thus have 7 modes. The key of C Major contains the following 7 notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. […]
What is Tonic, Supertonic, Mediant, etc.?
If you start reading a book on music theory you will most likely come across words like Tonic, Supertonic, Mediant, Sub-Dominant, Dominant, Sub-Mediant, and Leading Tone. In the scale of C Major there are 7 notes. They are C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. In this scale, C would be the Tonic, D-Supertonic, […]