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Music in General

The Circle of Fifths: The Clock of Key Signatures

Categories Music in General Music Practice Theory

Since the 17th century, the Circle of Fifths has been a prominent tool utilized by professional musicians and composers throughout Western Culture. Knowledge provided by the Circle of Fifths is practical for many situations and will become automatic with consistent practice. Musicians such as Bach (Baroque), Beethoven (Classical), Schubert (Romantic), Jerome Kern (Jazz), John Williams (Film), Selena Quintanilla (Teejano), Lin-Manuel Miranda (Broadway), Beyonce (Pop), and Armin Van Buuren (EDM), are just a few whose music is built around the Circle.  The Circle of Fifths offers fundamental knowledge which can be applied to any genre or style of music. In this … Read more

My Journey From Classical to Jazz Piano

Categories Music in General Piano

  Approaching jazz as a classical pianist can be challenging. If you’re interested in learning about jazz and how to play jazz piano, you’ve come to the right place! In this article, I share my experience of how I began to explore jazz and share tips with you on how you can get started and be successful. The guidance will include information on topics such as learning by ear, learning improvisation, and practicing the jazz feel. I hope this advice will help make your learning process easier! How I started to learn jazz My first experiences with jazz piano started … Read more

Scary Movie Music: Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells in The Exorcist

Categories Arts and Entertainment Music in General

In the month of October, Liberty Park Music presents you the 2nd episode of theme music analysis in our annual Halloween Horror Movie reviews. For our first video, we dissected John Carpenter’s revolutionary film Halloween. This time round, our very own movie junkie Nick Vaky selected an all-time horror film: The Exorcist. He evaluated the melodies used in the film and how each element work its way to get under your skin – or not! The Exorcist, adapted from a novel with the exact title, turned into a cult classic when it rolled out in 1973. The accompanying music became … Read more

Book Review: Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

Categories Arts and Entertainment Music in General Piano

“It really is a very odd business that all of us, to varying degrees, have music in our heads.” ― Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain   How much do you like music? How much of a role does music play in your life? Do you wish to be more musical? What if music is part of your being as the form of brain disease? What if music becomes part of you that cannot be turned off? Physician and professor of neurology Oliver Sacks wrote about fascinating stories about human brain; his The Man Who Mistook His … Read more

Keeping Up With The Times – Learning Music Online

Categories Music in General

We’re always on the move, balancing different jobs and life priorities. Young, energetic and skilled, we’re quick to adopt new technologies, from Facebook to Uber. Eager to keep in touch with our friends and the rest of the world, we’re constantly connected to the Internet. In this fast-paced, ever changing world of ours, we have to keep upgrading ourselves to keep up with the times. We have to stay updated on the latest trends, the newest technologies, and gain the necessary skills to ride them. Thankfully, we don’t have to go back to school for this. The Internet offers a … Read more

4 Ways Music Can Help Boost Productivity at Work

Categories Music in General

Do your employees drag their feet to the office every Monday morning? Or perhaps they start day dreaming right after lunch hour every day? The feelings of sluggishness, inertia, as well as boredom, distractions, and low office morale can cause productivity to take a hit on a daily basis. So, how can productivity be increased? Can listening to music make your employees more productive at work? Scientific research proves that music raises workers’ productivity. According to Dr. Teresa Lesiuk’s study at the University of Windsor, Canada, music creates a “positive mood change and enhanced perception on design while working.” Although her statement is … Read more

The Talented Mr Ripley: Musical Representation of Personality

Categories Arts and Entertainment Music in General

The Talented Mr. Ripley came out in 1999; it has a rating of 7.3/10 in IMDb and 83% in Rotten Tomatoes. I finally got to watch it recently in Netflix. I was pleasantly surprised by the music in the movie, so let’s talk about this movie! In this mentally-disturbing thriller, three men—Tom Ripley, Dickie Greenleaf, and Peter Smith-Kingsley—are caught in intense, complicated relationships. Of course, we are not trying to talk about the movie here, as this blog focuses on music and music only. The movie offers a great opportunity to talk about how the audience’s perception of music can … Read more

Bach’s Coffee Cantata

Categories Classical Music Music in General

Do you love coffee? Have you had your coffee this morning? Do you know, in 1734, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a cantata about the temptation and power of coffee? You might know that Bach wrote a lot of sacred cantatas to be used in church services; his Leipzig years (1723-1750) were especially a prolific time for sacred cantatas. In Leipzig Bach was responsible for the musical training of the boys choir at Thomasschule and oversaw music at four main churches of Leipzig–the Thomaskirche, the Nikolaikirche, the Matthäeikirche (or Neukirche) and the Petrikirche. There he wrote five cycles of cantatas for … Read more

How Do Busy People Learn Music in Singapore?

Categories Music in General Music Practice

Singapore is a global hub of technology, commerce, and culture. People from Asia and around the world find themselves living in and loving Singapore. There’s so much to do – you can never get bored! Did you know Liberty Park Music is based in Singapore? Even though our teachers reside on several different continents and our students tune into our lessons from all over the world, our headquarters are in Singapore. We love the mix of cultures and the wealth of cool experiences we can find in the bustling city. To navigate all the interesting things there are to do … Read more

The Flow State to Optimize Performance and Reduce Anxiety

Categories Music in General Music Practice

Many people in music, visual art, sport, and public speaking are familiar with performance anxiety. To overcome such anxiety and induce peak performance, we can try to achieve the flow state. With this state, instead of crumbling under the pressure, you will rise and surpass the occasion. Some of you may have the impression that the flow state has some mystical or new age implications, but keep reading and I’ll explain the hard science behind it. What is flow? The term “flow” was first coined by Hungarian psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. He and his team of psychologists began noticing this state … Read more