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 […]
Harper Woods
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]