music education

Busting Myths: Starving Artists Aren’t Real

Busting Myths: Starving Artists Aren’t Real

By Megan Grady

Do you have a student who’s extremely musically or artistically inclined or one who is passionate about pursuing the arts for college and beyond? Does the idea of your child trying to “make it” as an artist worry you? I’m here to unpack the antiquated idea that a career in the arts is a death-sentence on your salary, lifestyle or economic stability/mobility. Sure, it requires a lot of hard work to sustain a life as a musician (or other artist) and there are certain aspects that are far short of perfect, but who’s job is really secure and perfect these days?

Beginning the College Search for Music

Beginning the College Search for Music

By Megan Grady

The college decision process can be daunting - everyone has an opinion about what you should study, where you should go and what you should want. With so many options, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when deciding what you want to study, what kind of college you want, and where you want to apply. These decisions feel like they will impact the rest of your life!

Music Styles

Music Styles

By William Muñoz

When I started learning the trumpet one of my goals was to eventually be good enough to play salsa music. After all, growing up in Puerto Rico, that is one of the most popular styles of music and I thought it would be awesome to be in a salsa band. My first trumpet teacher played in many salsa bands, some of which he also directed, additionally, he also performed with the Puerto Rico Symphony and Puerto Rico Philharmonic among other ensembles. I remember that after a few lessons he asked: “why do you want to play the trumpet?” to which I replied: “I want to play salsa.”  He then responded: “Well, I am going to teach you how to be a trumpet player, more importantly, I will teach you to be a good musician.”

Identifying Learning Patterns

Identifying Learning Patterns

By Justin R. Hansen

In the 90’s and the turn of the century, it seemed that any person you met knew whether they were left- or right-brained. They either felt that they strongly exhibited the traits of one half or they had taken a “test” to help them figure it out; just for fun, here’s a good one: http://testyourself.psychtests.com/bin/transfer

Viennese vs. English Fortepianos: Haydn, Sonata Hob (Hoboken). XVI:52

Viennese vs. English Fortepianos: Haydn, Sonata Hob (Hoboken). XVI:52

By Esther Joh

While in modern times standardization has affected the craft of piano building, in the 18th century instruments were still personal works of art.  Therefore, pianos differed from town to town and from builder to builder.  Although within geographical area craftsmen did influence one another, the distance between two cities as far apart as London and Vienna resulted in the establishing of two distinct schools of piano building: the Viennese and the English.  Viennese made by Stein from the early 1770, developed by Anton Walter, who built Mozart's own piano in the early 1780s.  English were developed through Backers, a Dutch-born harpsichord maker resident in London, and John Broadwood. 

The Guitar and Its Many Colors

The Guitar and Its Many Colors

By Connor Ritchie

The guitar is a unique template for delivering music and has a resounding role in the canon of popular and classical music. This is common knowledge. However, how do we know that the guitar will stay relevant and stand the test of time? Even though it is one of the few polyphonic (multiple musical voices occurring simultaneously) solo instruments, it simply does not have the same level of command of many different voices that the piano does. So why is the guitar revered at all, if this is the case? There are many arguments to counter this question, but there is one that often does not get considered – the classical guitar is a master at manipulating tone color. The location and delivery of the stroke of a finger has such a large effect on the overall sound of the guitar that a player can immediately evoke a completely fresh and new atmosphere from just one shift of the hand.

The Importance of Musical Improvisation

The Importance of Musical Improvisation

By John Hart

What is musical improvisation?

“Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians.”

The Importance of Exploring

The Importance of Exploring

y Alexis Rastovich

Since the day they start walking, it is always a struggle to keep children away from out-in-the-open pianos or making unnecessary noises from their little voice boxes. My question is, why do we restrain them from these instruments? In fact, why do we keep ourselves away from unknown instruments? Yes, it sometimes is inconvenient to listen to the sounds of imperfect harmony, but the active learning that occurs when exploring is vital to our ability to grow as a musician, and perhaps more importantly, to grow as a person.

Careers In Music

Careers In Music

By Nathan Straub

Growing up, my dad always told me to do what I love, and the money will come. Years later, I'm standing at the end of my education wondering what comes next? What can you do with a music degree? Surprisingly, there are many different paths that musicians can take their gifts along. Of course, there are the well-known routes of rock star, opera diva, and concert pianist. But did you know that there are administrative jobs in universities, orchestras, opera houses, and many businesses that provide excellent compensation and hire music majors? Following is a list of careers for musicians who want to keep music as a part of their lives!