Musicians Should Collaborate at Every Age

“We’re creatures of habit. We know what we know. With collaboration…and I’m not just talking about music, I’m talking about in life – if you’re a good listener and you have your ears open, and to be a good collaborator you have to be able to listen, you can learn something from somebody else.” – Dave Koz, American Jazz Saxophonist Think of your favourite song… we can almost guarantee that you are thinking of a song that was written, produced, performed, recorded, mastered, and released by a variety of people. That’s because music is a collaborative effort! Often people believe…

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Can Learning Music Change Your Brain?

It’s no secret that music has an effect on our brains. Whether you go to a symphony, or a live music show, or even just turn on your favourite song, it’s immediately obvious how music can affect our emotions and our engagement. Listening and experiencing music is a huge benefit to our brain development, especially in children. Music Lessons can have an even bigger impact! Studies have shown that music training can speed up growth in the areas of our brains that process language, sound, speech, and reading skills! Music has so many benefits that aren’t just reading and playing…

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Why Is Music Theory So Important?

“Do everything you can to learn your craft. Score student films for free, attend conferences, learn music theory – do anything and everything you can.”       – John Keltonic  When learning an instrument, you have probably been encouraged to work on your music theory as well. Music theory is an incredibly important part of any music learning journey. Some call it the “grammar of music” because it provides the rules by which music works. Learning music theory will help a student understand the different written elements that make up a piece of music including; note reading, note values,…

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Top 5 Challenges for Adult Students

Top 5 Challenges for Adult Students “There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.”       – Jiddu Krishnamurti Starting to learn an instrument as an adult can be daunting. Children tend to have no fear of the unknown, and no recognition of their limits; whereas, adults usually recognize immediately how challenging mastering an instrument can be, and are somewhat more self-conscious of their progress or…

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Setting Goals in Music

English writer Aldous Huxley was quoted as saying: “Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor, upon which one walks as a matter of course and prescriptive right.”   Huxley was talking about the process of setting goals, attaining them, then setting new goals on the strength of what was already achieved. This “stepped” approach to skill development works because it allows us to celebrate the achievement of smaller, attainable accomplishments as we work towards larger, long term goals. Because of this, most music instruction series are “levelled,” allowing a student to “graduate” from one book to the next, celebrating the…

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