This is a music theory site that I have used with my students for years. The site has three sections: Lessons, Trainers, and Utilities.
LESSONS:

• The Staff, Clefs and ledger Lines
• Note duration
• Measures and Time Signatures
• Rest duration, Dots and Ties
• Simple, Compound and Odd meters
• Scales and Scale degrees
• Much more

Trainer

• Note
• Key
• Interval
• Triad
• Keyboard
• Guitar
• Brass
• Interval Ear Trainer
• Scale Ear Trainer
• Chord Ear Trainer

The trainer section is the area I use the most in working with students. For example, the Interval Ear Trainer will play two notes, one at a time. You select from a list what the interval is. The program keeps a running grade/score and, if you give a wrong answer, the correct answer will appear. I use this trainer for my voice students. My students tell me that this training also helps them in the school choir when they have to sight read new music.

Utilities

• Chord Calculator
• Staff Paper generator
• Matrix generator

Go to musictheory.net and try it out. It is free, and one of the best theory sites I have seen and used.

Of the different types of music notation software, Finale is probably one of the most well known and used pieces of music notation software. One of the great things about the software is that it comes in different levels of software that can be easily upgraded. So if you start out at one budget and level of expertise and you decide that it isn’t really meeting your needs, you can easily upgrade the product. This article covers the first two levels of the Finale family NotePad and Songwriter (more…)

Have you ever noticed the difference in how musicians feel about performing compared with how listeners feel about it? Most people are very appreciative of performances, but sometimes people view things very differently.  There are those who presume that anyone who gets on stage is in it for the applause, or is egotistical, or a narcissist.  You might be interested in a survey about this (see below). 

More to the point for teachers, perhaps, is that sometimes parents or others seem to think performances only look like fun if everyone’s smiling!

To me, music is fun because it engages each person at his or her own level. It’s hard work but rewarding, and in doing that work, we learn that having fun isn’t all about smiling, relaxing or playing games.  As a musician, this is probably obvious, but it’s good once in a while to think about it, and if you have an angle of your own on this, or a story to share, by all means add a comment at the end of this post. 

So, to what degree is music about showing off, self-expression, self-esteem, or just plain self?  Are musicians narcissists?

Drew Pinsky, a physician who cohosts Loveline, managed to get 200 celebrities to fill out a “Narcissism Personality Inventory” survey, and found that the least narcissistic celebrities were…guess who? Musicians.

The study suggests that (more…)

Private lessons for the guitar are much different than guitar classes. As in any private lessons I teach on piano, guitar, bass and voice, I want the student to enjoy their lesson while learning to create music on their instrument.

The lesson is thirty minutes, The student is programmed to sit down and plug into a tuner, and tune the instrument. During this time, and for a few minutes afterwards, I ask the student how his/her day is going, how school is going, and what are the plans for the weekend. This relaxes the student and initiates a dialog between us. The student then plays his piece, and I discuss, if needed, improvements that need to be made. I then give him the next piece to work on, and discuss the music theory that goes with the piece. Sometimes i also try to tell him the history behind the melody.

During the last ten minutes of the lesson, I have the student play the bass. This is not only a treat for the student, the bass helps them learn the notes on the 5th and 6th strings of the guitar, which are the 3rd and 4th strings on the bass. Knowing the notes on these two strings are very important and hardest to remember on the guitar. For example, if the student needs to make an Eb barr chord, they remember where Eb is on the bass and places their fingers accordingly on the guitar. Also, the bass is instrumental in creating and keeping a beat.

I do not just use the lesson book. There is so much more that the student needs to perfect the guitar. Other lessons include:

1. Songwriting. I start in the key of C, and have the student write a chord progression using the chords C, Dm, Em or E7, F, G7 and Am. The song needs to be 16 measures in 4/4 time. They have to use a pencil so changes can be made. They do not have to use all the chords above, but have to use only the listed chords in the key of C. The song needs to begin and end with a C chord. Each measure is written out like this: C / / / . After the student writes and plays the song, I tweak it, and have him practice the revised song. The following week, I show him how to transpose the song into the key of G.
2. Students learn to play Stairway to Heaven. The song prepares the student for barr chords. The student also learn to finger pick, as well as learn chords and techniques otherwise not taught.
3. Other songs that teach special techniques are Sweet Home Alabama, Dust in the Wind, Blackbird, etc.
4. During the first few months of lessons, I have the student participate in an exercise with me to train their ear to recognize the open strings. Placing my guitar vertically, and turning the guitar to face me, I play each string once, starting with the 1st string. The student plays each string after I play the string. After this warm-up, I randomly play an open string, and the student attempts to play the same open string. You would be amazed how quickly students learn to recognize the open strings.
5. Students learn the chords and the theory on the chord. The type of chords are Open Chords, Barr Chords, Power Chords and Chord Inversions. I will discuss in depth the chords in a later blog.

The lesson book I use is 21st Century Guitar Method One, or Hal Leonard Guitar Method One. These Method One books teach the rudiments of music, techniques and note reading. The second method book used is 21st Century Guitar Method Two, which concentrates on technique and style.

Most of the music I transcribe for the student is written in PowerTab, a free program downloaded from powertab.net. Not only can you write the music, you can also have the program play the music back for you. Music written in Powertab can be found on the internet, such as www.911tabs.com.

I look forward to your input, questions, or request for forwarded music I use.

February is my favorite month to teach, and it’s just around the corner. The reason is because February is Black History Month. This is when I focus primarily on Folk music, Jazz, Blues, and Rock and Roll. If you are interested in devoting the month to Black music history, here’s a list of resources to pull from. They will make your classes more interesting and you might learn a thing or two as well (as I did).
DVDs:

Ken Burn’s: Jazz

This amazing 10-part series covers everything a classroom music teacher needs to teach the history of African-American music. Starting from the early days of slavery and the creation of the “Spiritual”, it takes the viewer all the way up to the Jazz created in the 60’s. I especially love the disc about Swing, because my students get so into the dancing.

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While a performance student in my bachelor’s and master’s degree, I had access to so many wonderful books, recordings, videos, and music. As a student, I spent considerable time in the music library just listening to my favorite recordings, translating all of my repertoire, and looking for ever challenging music that I would some day sing.

Now as a private teacher, I want my students to have access to the same resources I had, and I want to keep an eye out for the latest in technique and performance preparation writings to keep my teaching fresh and on pointe. I have compiled a list of books that include some of the classic standbys, along with some new literature. In my first article, I will focus on studio management, and technique development. If you are currently teaching voice, and have found a resource that you think is particularly valuable that is not listed here, please post it in the comment box below. The art of singing and the teaching of singing are ever evolving, and so should this list!
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Practicing and performing music is a very physical activity.  In spite of all the mental and emotional exertion that goes into it, we must always remember how physical it is. 

Below are some thoughts about physical injury from music, and here’s a website link that can give you lots of information about this subject, including practical tips, anatomical information, and a list of excellent books. (more…)

When scheduling an event in MTH, you are asked to name a category. By clicking on EDIT CATEGORIES, you can add categories or edit existing categories.

Categories I have set up are Available Makeup Slot, Open Slot, Makeup Lesson, Workshop, Studio Closed, Guitar Lesson, Piano Lesson, Bass Lesson, Voice Lesson, Studio Business, and Personal Business.

Each of the categories are color coded, making it easy to look at the calendar and spot different events. Students and parents find that the color coding makes it easy to spot makeup times on their web page in MTH. At a glance I can find Open Slots or Available Makeup Slots by looking for the color.

How creative are you with the Category function in MTH? Do you have any other other ideas in using this function?

Music notation software has changed a lot over the last few years and the number of programs and features available have multiplied. There are many types with many different pluses and minuses. Over the course of the next few weeks I will be taking a look at several different types of notation software for both Mac and PC and outlining the features of each of them. I will also be rating the software on various areas such as ease of use, cost, help/support, input/output capabilities and ease of entry.

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Would you like to know what the presidential candidates say about music education? I did a little survey. You will be surprised by the results!

First, let me mention that I found it jarring to hear from my wife that in a recent focus group discussing education, nearly everyone seemed obsessed about making sure our state’s educational system helped kids get jobs. Almost as if they viewed colleges as vocational schools.

This is obsolete. Education shouldn’t help kids get jobs; it should help kids create jobs.

The creative thinking and discipline and communication skills learned through music education can help people invent something, start a new business, work for themselves–or just help them understand themselves and the fast-changing world we live in enough to identify the right companies and positions for themselves, and even shape existing jobs so they can really shine and make a difference.

OK, so which presidential candidates have made music and the arts part of their campaign? (more…)