Friday Fun Link #6

I stumbled upon A Passion for Jazz when I was searching for a good “How to use a Fake Book” resourse. There is a concise history of jazz as well as handy “cheat sheets”. The chord chart is extremely helpful!

Super Saturday Link #1

Friday came and went before I realized that I missed my Friday Fun Link entry. Here’s a Super Saturday Link instead: Ever wonder what a digeridoo is? How about a sitar? Or a da'uli da'uli?

The University of Michigan Department of Music has compiled a comprehensive online resource that includes an instrument encyclopedia, glossary, information on various instrument collections throughout North America and useful instrument-specific links.

Hmm...if memory serves me correctly, one of my university classmates works in that library.

© Musespeak, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. All rights reserved.

Friday Fun Link #3

This week, I’ve directed several students to MusicTheory.net . Ricci Adams, the site’s creator, has done an excellent job at preparing tutorials to musicians. The Flash presentation on rhythm has helped at least one of my students. My favourite part of the site is the Trainer section. Where was this when I was studying? The Interval Ear Trainer is set up like a game. The Trainer will play an interval (the distance between two notes) and the student must identify what the interval is. The Trainer even keeps score. The Scale Ear Trainer and the Chord Ear Trainer are set up similarly.

The Note, Key, Interval and Triad Trainers are like online flashcards.

It’s a great way for students to practice their ear training and note reading when they don’t have a study partner.

There is even a staff paper generator for those who want to try their hand at composing.

Check it out.

(c) 2005 by Musespeak(tm). All rights reserved.

Adventures in Teaching and Playing

My students and I are starting to get used to our school-year routine (a couple of students who forgot about their lessons the week before). Even Maestro is learning to be the model teaching assistant. With the weather cooling down, I thought it was apropos when a student played "Jingle Bells" at today's lesson. This week, I asked several students to try chording (or faking) a pop song they are currently working on. For the non-music folk, it means that instead of playing what's written on the page, they will play chords in the left hand. Most pop folios write the chord symbols on top of the music. Chording accomplishes three things (at least that I can think of): it helps students learn their songs more quickly, it gives them the freedom to embellish their own accompaniment and it helps them better understand the song's form and structure.

I'm chording more these days. For the wedding that I'm playing at this weekend, I have no idea whether I will be asked to play the music for the parts of the Mass. I have a version of "Glory to God" but last night, I just realized that it's not the one we usually sing at church. Thankfully, I borrowed a hymnal from church a few weeks ago. I found the version that we usually sing. However, the hymnal only has the vocal melody. No chords. Nor chord symbols. Nada. I had to fiddle around with it and figure out the chords. It's not perfect, but it's definitely passable. After all this effort, I bet Murphy's Law will kick in and that the congregation at the wedding will just say the parts of the Mass that are often sung. Then I'll be off the hook. I should be prepared though - just in case.

(c) 2005 by Musespeak(tm). All rights reserved.

Is it naptime yet?

It's day three of teaching for me and I'm so tired! After a relatively light summer teaching schedule, I forgot how much energy teaching requires (and Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my long workdays!). The more excited the student, the more energy I need. I'm not complaining though. Both Maestro and I are glad to get back into our fall routine. Not to mention, budgeting will be a lot easier now that I have a regular schedule. I've enjoyed hearing about the students' vacations (camping, Disneyland, BC, Toronto) and am impressed with the progress some students have made over the summer.One continues to astound me with how well her musical ear is developing. The songs that she can pick out by ear and embellish upon are just astounding! Several have already learned two or three songs (and that's just the conservatory songs not the pop songs). With most, I have to spend some time reviewing what they learned last year.

The one glitch I've run into this week is with my new pet project. I plan to record the students' lessons onto CD but the CD burner died the first day. Two lessons sounded like two chipmunks talking. Then, the burner died. So it's back to pencil and paper until I can get that fixed. In a way, I'm relieved that it's a hardware issue. I was beginning to worry that my luck for learning new software quickly was running out.

Look at the time! I better get ready to teach.

(c) 2005 by Musespeak(tm). All rights reserved.