Keep your eyes on the stars but keep your feet on the ground - Theodore Roosevelt. The fundamentals of ear training are largely glossed over. Developing one's ear is seen as a linear track: learn...Read More
Keep your eyes on the stars but keep your feet on the ground - Theodore Roosevelt. The fundamentals of ear training are largely glossed over. Developing one's ear is seen...Read More
What exactly is ear training? You’ve heard musicians talk about it. Your teachers have recommended it. And if you’re a regular here you’ve seen it pop up in more than a few lessons...But I'm guessing...Read More
What exactly is ear training? You’ve heard musicians talk about it. Your teachers have recommended it. And if you’re a regular here you’ve seen it pop up in more than...Read More
In our first article of Fundamental Ear Training Exercises, we covered how to choose an ear training partner, the correct mindset to approach ear training with, and exercises about singing & hearing intervals, harmonic intervals,...Read More
In our first article of Fundamental Ear Training Exercises, we covered how to choose an ear training partner, the correct mindset to approach ear training with, and exercises about singing...Read More
On this site we frequently write about the benefits of ear training for improvising, with good reason. Hearing and singing intervals, melodies, chord progressions, etc. is one area of daily practice that will directly affect...Read More
On this site we frequently write about the benefits of ear training for improvising, with good reason. Hearing and singing intervals, melodies, chord progressions, etc. is one area of daily...Read More
We've presented tons of exercises on how to practice ear training, but many require that you have someone to train with. So what do you do when you don't have a partner? When you have...Read More
We've presented tons of exercises on how to practice ear training, but many require that you have someone to train with. So what do you do when you don't have...Read More
Recently a reader wrote in wanting to know, “What makes jazz ear training different from just general ear training?” That’s a great question and I definitely had to think to arrive at an answer. They...Read More
Recently a reader wrote in wanting to know, “What makes jazz ear training different from just general ear training?” That’s a great question and I definitely had to think to...Read More
So you want to learn how to improvise jazz and that’s great, but where on Earth do you start jazz improvisation?!?! There’s so much information out there that figuring out where to begin playing jazz...Read More
So you want to learn how to improvise jazz and that’s great, but where on Earth do you start jazz improvisation?!?! There’s so much information out there that figuring out...Read More
Admit it. You listen to pop tunes. You probably even like them. But hold on a second, aren’t you’re supposed to be a serious musician? It’s OK, everyone listens to pop tunes. Just because you...Read More
Admit it. You listen to pop tunes. You probably even like them. But hold on a second, aren’t you’re supposed to be a serious musician? It’s OK, everyone listens to...Read More
Ahh the summer…a time to take a break from the daily grind and a moment to take stock of your progress. A few months to relax, reset, and refocus on the stuff you want to...Read More
Ahh the summer…a time to take a break from the daily grind and a moment to take stock of your progress. A few months to relax, reset, and refocus on...Read More
Every single person who wants to play jazz starts out as a beginner. There’s no way around it!! And over the first couple years of learning how to improvise, only a small handful of beginners...Read More
Every single person who wants to play jazz starts out as a beginner. There’s no way around it!! And over the first couple years of learning how to improvise, only...Read More
If you think about it, the elements of your practice routine are like the different sections of a well-structured work-out plan. You've got your warm-up/stretching, cardio, strength training, resistance work outs, and the list goes...Read More
If you think about it, the elements of your practice routine are like the different sections of a well-structured work-out plan. You've got your warm-up/stretching, cardio, strength training, resistance work...Read More
What is a jazz musician's most important tool? Is it their ear? Their technique? The concepts at their disposal? All of these are extremely important, but without this one specific tool, they’re all useless… The...Read More
What is a jazz musician's most important tool? Is it their ear? Their technique? The concepts at their disposal? All of these are extremely important, but without this one specific...Read More
As he stood in the hallway, the students gathered round. You could see the crowd growing, one-by-one as the people walking by heard what was happening. Harold, animated and speaking with vibrant energy, was sharing...Read More
As he stood in the hallway, the students gathered round. You could see the crowd growing, one-by-one as the people walking by heard what was happening. Harold, animated and speaking...Read More
Let's be completely honest...My amazing teachers did tell me many of the things that I'm about to tell you...I just didn't listen! Why didn't I listen? I don't know. Immaturity. Stubbornness. The belief that there...Read More
Let's be completely honest...My amazing teachers did tell me many of the things that I'm about to tell you...I just didn't listen! Why didn't I listen? I don't know. Immaturity....Read More
The extent to which your aural imagination is developed, largely determines: the quality of lines you play, how you play those lines (articulation, swing feel, inflection), and the sound you play with. Nothing has such...Read More
The extent to which your aural imagination is developed, largely determines: the quality of lines you play, how you play those lines (articulation, swing feel, inflection), and the sound you...Read More
You walk into your practice room. You sit back in your favorite chair and mentally prepare to play your first note of the day. You glance at your stack of etude books, the half transcribed...Read More
You walk into your practice room. You sit back in your favorite chair and mentally prepare to play your first note of the day. You glance at your stack of...Read More