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What Is The Right Age To Start Music Lessons For Your Child?

Music history is littered with precocious child prodigies taking the world by storm with their dazzling musical talents. A famous historical example is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Stories abound of...
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Tasty Listening: Ten New York Music Venues with Amazing Food

Few things are more disappointing than going out to hear live music but paying too much for a dry tourist burger, bad wine, and a dessert that tastes like it...
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Guitar Maintenance for Beginners

At a glance... 1. Professional setup 2. Temperature and humidity 3. String maintenance 4. Cleaning and maintenance while changing strings 5. Long term storage Guitar maintenance is often overlooked because...
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Must Know Music Terms For Parents

Many parents want to keep track of their child’s learning progress. However, for parents who are non-musicians, listening to teachers or their children talk about music can be confusing and...
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How To Choose Your First Guitar

At a glance... 1. Price 2. Style 3. Availability for trying out 4. Inspecting the instrument 5. Warranty Buying your first guitar can be a confusing process as there are...
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How To Choose The Right Piano

Getting yourself a new piano is an exciting decision and, as a fellow musician, I’m happy for you! But before you can embark on your musical journey, you have to...
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Electric, Classical, and Acoustic Guitars: What Are The Differences?

At a glance... 1. Strings 2. Sound production 3. Genres 4. Shape and size 5. Feel and suitability 6. Price One of the first questions I get from people who...
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Guitar Guide For Beginners: Guitar Terminology

Throughout the course of your guitar journey, there will be essential guitar and musical terms that help facilitate effective communication, especially if you’re planning on playing with a band. This...
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How To Tune Your Drums

At a glance... 1. Drum anatomy 2. The physics of drum tuning 3. The drum tuning process 4. Fine tuning 5. Dampening 6. Tunings for different styles Guitarists have to...
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12 Tips to Help You Sight-Read Better

Have you witnessed your music teacher or friend take out a sheet music, read it for the first time, but play it flawlessly? Sight-reading is a difficult but valuable skill...
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Cymbal Selection for Intermediate and Advanced Drummers

At a glance... 1. Cymbal anatomy 2. Cymbal size 3. Cymbal weight 4. Cymbal finish As a drummer, you are likely to want to experiment with new cymbals at some...
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Meet The Teachers: Brendan Bache, our Drum teacher

At Liberty Park Music, we like to consider ourselves a community. Although spread around the globe, we’re all dedicated to sharing music with the world, as teachers, learners and listeners....
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Cymbal Selection for Beginner and Intermediate Drummers

At a glance... 1. Cymbal sizes 2. Cymbal brands 3. Budgeting 4. Cymbal ranges Cymbals play an incredibly important role in shaping the overall sound of a drum kit and...
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Drum Terminology

At a glance... Types of drums Types of cymbals Hardware Maintenance items Drum heads Drum anatomy Rhythm terms   Music is a world within itself, with a language we all...
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Choosing the right Drumsticks: Sizing, Tips, Brands and more

At a glance... 1. Sizing of drumsticks 2. The tip 3. Drumstick brands 4. Beaters, mallets, brushers, and rods The drumstick market is saturated with choice. Every brand has every...
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Practice Guide to Become a Better Musician

We all know that practice makes perfect. Therefore, it is important to learn the right way to practice. By incorporating the right habits, you can make your practice sessions more...
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A Guide to Buying a Drum Kit

At a glance... 1. Drum kit anatomy 2. Brands 3. Configurations 4. Material 5. Shell thickness 6. Hoops 7. Finish 8. Models Buying the right drum kit is an essential...
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Making the Most of your Practice: Make Your Music Groove with Tempo Changes

Aside from dynamics and articulation, what other musical elements can we use to make music groove? This article will answer this very question. Pulse/Tempo Pulse is one of the most...
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Making the Most of your Practice: Make your Music Groove with Dynamics

Groove? Groove is a word familiar to most musicians and non-musicians, but it is a concept shrouded in ambiguity. “That band grooves!” or “This doesn’t groove at all” are the...
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Making the Most of your Practice: The Metronome – Part 2

In my previous post I introduced you to the Metronome and shared a technique that I call 'metronome reduction'. Metronome Displacement In many ways Metronome Displacement is similar to Metronome Reduction. You'll...
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Easy Guitar Songs and Tips for Beginners

At a glance... 1. Factors determining difficulty 2. Number of chords 3. Guitar friendly keys 4. Anchor fingers 5. Barre chords 6. Strumming patterns 7. Simplifying chords 8. Tempo 9....
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Coachella 2017 Preview: Our Top Picks!

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is just around the corner! Coachella is so big that this year it added a SECOND weekend to accommodate the people that want...
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How To Use a Capo for Guitarists

A capo is a tool that clamps down on all the strings at a certain fret, which effectively moves the guitar’s nut up to that fret. It can also act...
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Finger Exercises for Pianists: Improve Speed and Overall Performance

At a glance... 1. Warm up exercises 2. Velocity exercises 3. Finger/hand independence exercises You might ask, why should I do finger exercises? Like athletes, musicians need good control of...
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Making the Most of Your Practice: The Metronome – Part 1

The ability to play in time, one of the most fundamental skills that a musician must develop, is to play with a consistent, even, and steady pulse as well as...
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The Best Songs from Oscar-Nominated Films of 2016!

Even before films had dialogue, they had music. In the silent film era, the music was necessary to emphasize emotions conveyed on screen. Today, different filmmakers use music in different...
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What is Sonata form?

In this article, I will talk about the origins, functions and structure of music in Sonata form. I will also dive into our musical analysis of Haydn's renowned composition. If...
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A Guide to Drum Sticks Grip

At a glance... 1. Match grip vs traditional grip 2. German, French, and American grips When you are learning any instrument, it can be a rather daunting prospect to juggle...
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How to Play Scales and Arpeggios for Pianists

At a glance... 1. Importance 2. Essential scales and arpeggios 3. Techniques 4. Articulations and rhythms 5. Practice routines The movie Julie and Julia is a highly entertaining and yet...
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Making the Most of your Practice: Practice Planning

Having decided on some short-, medium- and long-term goals, let’s think about how to structure your practice. This structuring could take written form by means of a practice diary or...
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Making the Most of Your Practice: Goal Setting for Musicians

Setting Practice Goals I believe that goal setting is a fundamental skill that needs to be developed in order to get the most out of your practice time. What you...
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“What Is Christmas All About?”: A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas Aired on December 9, 1965 on CBS, A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first television special stemmed from the popular four-column comic strip, Peanuts. Although CBS...
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9 Christmas Albums to Add A Kick to Your Holiday Gathering

What’s the next most important thing at any holiday gathering, besides food? Music. This holiday season, whether it’s a friend’s party, a work shindig, or your family’s celebration, music will...
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Guitar Barre Chords Made Easy For Beginners

Barre chords are one of the trickiest techniques for beginning guitarists to master, but being able to play them is necessary for any rhythm guitarist. Mastering barre chords will allow...
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Musical Thanksgiving: The Wampanoag Tribe

When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, the Native American Wampanoag tribe kindly showed the settlers how to farm the land, hunt and fish, and adapt to life in the new...
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8 Songs of Appreciation and Gratitude for this Thanksgiving

As autumn arrives, so does a cherished holiday: Thanksgiving. Started as a way to celebrate the plentiful fall harvest with friends and family, Thanksgiving is now a mainstay in many...
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Making the Most of Your Practice: How to Make Practice Enjoyable

We all practice to improve on something we decide to do and achieve the goals we set out for ourselves. Yet a surprising number of my music students often tell...
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Scary Movie Music: the Filmmaking Genius of John Carpenter

If you love being scared by horror movies, chances are Halloween is one of your favorite times of the year. Besides the new horror movies that come out during Halloween,...
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How to Read Guitar TABs: A Beginner’s Guide

Learning how to read guitar TABs is an important tool that makes it easier for beginning guitar players to learn how to play. Thankfully, guitar TABs are also the easiest...
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5 Benefits of Learning Guitar

The process of learning a new skill often reaps astonishing benefits, and learning the guitar is no different. Besides the benefit of now being able to play an instrument, you'd...
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6 Top Guitar Posture Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

Do you experience back pain after practicing your guitar for extended periods of time? Or feel a bit of tension in the wrists after playing those overreaching barre and power...
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10 Common Guitar Mistakes To Avoid For Better Performance

Just like other physical and artistic activities, it is very easy to unknowingly develop bad habits when learning how to play the guitar! These habits can be hard to break...
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Beginner’s Guide to Acoustic Drums

One of the most exciting and rewarding instruments in any band’s lineup is the drum set. Why? The drummer is the most active person onstage! The drummer is also one...
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10 Benefits of Learning Music That Will Change Your Life

I’ve been playing, performing, teaching, and learning music for almost 25 years, and there's one question people often ask me: Why should I learn to play music? What are the...
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How To Learn Songs By Ear

One of the most impressive musical skills is transcribing a song by ear. In my opinion, being able to learn songs by ear is the most important musical skill to...
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