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Digital Piano vs Acoustic Piano – The ultimate buyer’s guide

At a glance… Types of acoustic pianos and how they workTypes of digital pianos and how they workComparison of acoustic and digital pianos:SoundMaintenanceVersatilityTouch sensitivityPricePedalsHow personal preferences may affect your choice:Music genreLevel of proficiencyPractice hours and locationHybrid pianosRecommendations based on profiles What to Consider When Buying a Piano: Acoustic or Digital? The first step in buying a piano is to decide between the two different types —the acoustic and the digital piano. Many musicians find it difficult to decide between the two. Take Timmy for example. Timmy is a high school student who loves listening to the latest pop songs on … Read more

100+ Musical Terms For Beginners Learning Piano

When you first begin learning piano, you will start an exciting journey of learning both a new instrument and a new language—the language of music. Musical language is not used in everyday life and can be confusing at first. To help you out, this glossary of musical terms contains 110 common words that often appear in piano music. Many of the words are in Italian, the language that most composers use when giving directions in their pieces. As you learn piano, you will see these words more and more and become familiar with them. These terms are very important because … Read more

Finding Time to Learn Music: Balancing Work, Life and the Love of Song

The typical modern schedule is more hectic and demanding than ever, and that can make finding a healthy balance between work, family, and life’s many other demands – and pleasures – difficult to achieve. Unfortunately, it’s the things we love to do – the things that are good for our bodies, minds and spirits – that often get pushed to the back burner in favor of fulfilling obligations. That makes the pursuit of music even more important, as studies of music’s effects on our well-being have shown that listening to music – and especially playing music – can impart a … Read more

Five Particularly Unusual Christmas Albums – A Musical Guide for the Weirdest Time of the Year

The earth managed to circle around the sun again and it is time for the winter holidays once more! If your Christmas routine is anything like mine, each year offers an abundance of eating, shopping, stressful travel, making conversation with estranged friends and relatives, uncomfortable sweaters, and frigid weather. Call me a cynic, but even in the most normal of holiday scenarios, I often find myself realizing that this is a strange ritual we humans take part in. Good, bad, or in between, Christmas time is always a little more unusual than the rest of the year. Personally, I believe … Read more

Colin Oxley’s Solo in "I Should Care"

Here’s a great solo on a classic standard, often played as a ballad but here as a medium swing. This is the first chorus of Colin’s solo taken from a video of a gig in London from 2010, and what struck me about this chorus is the simplicity of its phrasing. The 32 bars of transcription discussed here exemplifies a well-balanced first chorus of improvising in the jazz/bebop style. Oxley repeats simple melodic and rhythmic motifs over different chords, for example, the triplet idea juxtaposed by an eighth note (from the end of bar 6 to bar 8) moving down … Read more

Jaco Pastorius’ solo on Bright Size Life by Pat Metheny

Here are some of my thoughts on what has to be one of the greatest jazz bass solos ever recorded, fretless or otherwise.  Jaco Pastorius played his legendary fretless bass on Pat Metheny’s debut album: Bright Size Life, and this solo is from the title track.  I chose this solo for its lyrical phrasing, the unmistakeable fretless articulation that became a big part of Jaco’s personal sound, not to mention the sound which many contemporary fretless bass players aim for.  In the words of modern fretless player Matt Bissonette, when he was discussing all fretless bassists: “…we’re all chasing Jaco’s … Read more

Looking for a New Year’s resolution? How about listening to classical music?

It’s almost New Year. Have you found your New Year’s resolution for 2015? Would you like to introduce classical music into your life? If you have always wanted to know more about classical music but felt overwhelmed by this seemingly difficult kind of music, here is a list of things you can try to make listening to classical music more fun. Bob Satterfield [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons 1. Just relax and use your imagination. This applies to a lot of things, including listening to classical music. Even if you know nothing about classical music, try to let your imagination … Read more

Where did Christmas carols come from?

Ho ho ho.. It’s that time of a year–a lot of people’s favorite time–Christmas. The houses in your neighborhood have Christmas lights on, Christmas music has been played non-stop on the radio, and everywhere you go people seem to be so excited (or anxious) about this heartwarming season. When it comes to Christmas caroling, you probably think of a group of people singing in front of your house. However, do you know that carols were not always about Christmas and they started as early as the middle ages?  To understand where Christmas carols came from, let’s look at the history … Read more

Recording Technology and Music Listening

Nowadays listening to music cannot be easier. You purchase and download the music directly into your listening devices–computer, iPod, iPhone, or any smart phones. CDs are almost unnecessary. Nonetheless, have you ever thought about how altogether music listening was a totally different kind of experience decades ago? (All together: Music listening was a totally different kind of experience decades ago.) Moreover, how would recording technology influence the decisions of producers or composers? Today I want to talk about how recording technology can influence the music world more deeply than we usually give it credit for. Although Thomas Edison’s phonograph in … Read more

Tempo rubato

Musical concept: Tempo Rubato Tempo rubato, a type of tempo marking, instructs the performer to freely, expressively speed up or slow down at certain passages. In Italian, “rubare” means “to steal,” and “tempo” means “time.” Therefore “tempo rubato” means the time of some measures are stolen by the others. There are two different kinds of tempo rubato. The first kind is when the underlying pulse stays the same and the tempo is slightly varied. This type was common in the eighteenth century and received a lot of discussion from writers at that time. During the rubato passage, some measures are … Read more