With the holiday season upon us it’s easy for musical goals to take a backseat. However if you are open to it the change of season can actually inspire new musical creativity. Today we have a special treats for jazz musicians wanting to improvise, aspiring songwriters who just don’t know where to start, and a quick guide on how to learn to sing in tune. Also, some alternative Christmas music for those who are bored of the classics…

Before we get started check out this inspiring video of a 5-year-old(!) drummer playing some System of a Down:

Songwriting Inspiration

Songwriters secrets-first steps smThis week the second article in our Songwriters Secrets series was published: The First Steps in Songwriting. As with any new skill you are learning it’s best to start from the beginning and with songwriting that means finding inspiration and writing lyrics.

In this week’s article songwriter and composer Sabrina Peña Young outlines three exercises to help you start writing your first song. No specialist music skills are required, so grab your notebook and pen and get started!

Make Jazz with your Ears

Jazz Improvisation Ear Training: 5 Tips from Chris Cooke (Learn Jazz Faster)Jazz musician and educator Chris Cooke from LearnJazzFaster.com featured as an expert in our recent guide on starting jazz improvisation ear training. Before we shared just a preview of his five tips, but now you can discover his full advice – Jazz Improvisation Ear Training: 5 Tips from Chris Cooke.

Ho Ho Ho-liday Music

Open your ears to winter holiday music smPeople seem to either love or hate holiday music, and even those who love it get bored of the same songs being played over and over. This week we opened our ears to some alternative holiday music featured in the winter holiday 5-song-set podcast. Active listening is a really important part of ear training, so take advantage of this festive season’s musical offerings and open your ears to Winter Holiday Music.

Online Music Communities

It can be difficult to keep your music practice going during busy seasons like this. Surrounding yourself with people who have similar interests and goals can be one way to help you maintain motivation. If you already take advantage of online music resources or are keen on joining an online music community but are not sure where to start check out our guest post over on MusicMattersBlog.com about how to get the most out of online music resources.

Musica U emily-grapes-member spotlightMusical U is one thriving community of musicians, and this week they interviewed one of their members, EmilyGrapes, to find out about her musical journey and how being part of Musical U is helping her achieve her musical goals.

 

Not Tone Deaf? Learn to Sing in Tune!

how-to-learn-to-sing-in-tuneA few weeks ago we published a comprehensive guide outlining four steps that will teach you to sing in tune. We have now summarised these steps in a quick reference infographic. True tone deafness is very rare (it only affects 3% of the population), and as long as you are not tone deaf there’s no reason why you can’t learn to sing in tune. Just follow these 4 steps and never worry about your singing voice again!

I hope that you have found something to spark your musical creativity this weekend. Is there time to conquer one last musical goal before the end of the year? I leave you with this week’s quote from Musical U Facebook page.

To acheive great things quote sm

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