by Mark Levine Order Now Anyone studying Jazz should read this book. Mark Levine gives us this brilliant book covering Theory and Scales, Improvisation, Reharmonization, Playing Tunes, and much more. Over 500 pages of text and over 750 musical examples. Written in the language of the working jazz musician, this book is easy […]
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Guinness to acknowledge local boy
By Heidi Bitsoli, Special to The Macomb Daily Click to enlarge What were you doing when you were 5 years old? In Julian Pavone’s case, he was banging out a Guinness World Record as “Youngest Professional Drummer.” The designation became official when young Julian was 5 years, 10 months, 3 days old, on March 21, […]
Macomb boy drums way to a Guinness record
7-year-old Julian Pavone worked hard to earn youngest drummer title Francis X. Donnelly/ The Detroit News Macomb Township — Julian Pavone has played the drums professionally most of his life, but they still tower above him. After all, he’s just 7. In that short period, he has appeared on 150 talk and news shows, including “Good […]
Words of Wellness
Grosse Pointe News Article July 28, 2011 In true patriotic spirit, the Fourth of July weekend had me singing, “I’m proud to be a…Grosse Pointer.” Well that’s a bit of a fib, as technically I live in St. Clair Shores, but I did grow up in GP, and you know there’s no better place for […]
Free Intro Guitar Class at the Harper Woods Library
Starting August 8th, the Grosse Pointe Music Academy will be sponsoring the non-profit organization Detroit Music Initiative in their efforts to bring music to those for whom it’s out of reach. The DMI will be providing four weekly hour-long classes that are open for enrollment to the public. The classes, which will be held every […]
Piano Lesson Myths
Piano Lesson Myths by Howard Richman Piano lesson myths are so ingrained into our culture and our consciousness that it almost seems silly to counter them. But on close examination, even the most “obvious” piano myths or beliefs about piano study and piano practice are not only wrong, they are damaging to the […]
Playing the songs you’ve heard over and over
You might not really be interested in learning how to play “Jingle Bells”, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” or “Twinkle Twinkle”, but whether you like it or not these songs will play in your head every time they are mentioned. Don’t let the lyrics of these and other songs distract you from the truly valuable […]
Finding the Kinesthetic Feeling of Rhythm
by Matthew Harre writer of MusicFossils.com (Freeing the Adult Piano Student) The Problem Rhythmic pulse is spontaneous and visceral, straight from the mind of the body. Counting out loud feels forced and comes straight from the mind of words and concepts. A basic task for any student is to bring these two minds together […]
Paul McCartney brings a lifetime of hits to Comerica Park
Susan Whitall/ Detroit News Music Writer At age 69, after more than 50 years as a professional musician, it would be understandable if Paul McCartney wanted to kick back, enjoy his engagement to New York businesswoman Nancy Shevell, 51, and count his royalty checks. But always the most energetic of the Beatles, he shows little […]
Music Together Blog. Jackson, The Music Maker
By Lyn Ransom, D.M.A. Lyn Ransom, D.M.A., is the recently-retired Director of Program Development at Music Together LLC and coauthor of Music Together Preschool. She helped to develop Music Together’s Babies Program in 1999 and was a curriculum writer for all of the Music Together song collections. In addition to 25 years’ experience teaching adults […]
Don’t let summer stop your groove
With the summer in full swing, many students are taking breaks from their music lessons to engage in more seasonal activities. What many students don’t realize, however, is the importance of continuing practice throughout their break; a point I often push on my students. As practice time diminishes, so do many of the important physical […]
It’s a real shame when folks be throwing away a perfectly good pink guitar like that
Shortly after I blogged about how inexpensive short-scale guitars are rare, I found this pink guitar in Harper Woods on trash day. It’s an inexpensive First Act child’s guitar, but after a thorough inspection I realized that the only thing wrong with […]
Get your child a full size guitar so they can grow into it…
Wait! The title to this post is all wrong. That is the absolute worst thing that you could do to a beginning guitarist! If you subscribe to this philosophy you may as well buy clothes that are too big for them so that they can grow into them. Don’t let an ignorant sales person at […]
Practice, Practice, Practice
If we could acquire cool skills without taking the time to practice them that would certainly allow us to have a multitude of abilities that would otherwise be impossible. Maybe in the future our brains will download information and allow our bodies to know the necessary actions to perform such abilities. As of right now […]
Upgrading your guitar to a bone nut and saddle.
Often times I am asked by customers what upgrades they can make to their guitars to improve the sound of their instrument. Most of the time, I advise them to replace their nut and saddle with one made from a bone material. This is a fairly low cost repair that is always an improvement. Most […]
Am I ready for Rock Band Class?
Rock Band classes are small group lessons typically 3-5 students who work on playing together rhythmically and learning performance skills while playing their songs. An experienced teacher guides the group providing instrument coaching and objective critique. Anyone who has started a band realizes that there is certainly potential for a power clash between the lead […]
6 Benefits of Music Education for Your Child
Early childhood music education is good for your child. It helps to develop brain areas of your child, develop critical problem solving skills, etc. In this article, let me highlight some of the benefits of music education: 1. Early musical training helps develop brain areas involved in language and reasoning. It is thought that brain […]
Music Education Helps Kids’ Brains With Sound Stimuli
By Erika Krull, MS, LMHP Music Education Helps Kids’ Brains With Sound Stimuli By Erika Krull, MS, LMHP I was in several music classes when I was in school. One of the most frustrating things for the teacher had to be chatty students in class. If the whole point of your activity is to […]
Taking Music Lessons with your son or daughter
Many people frequently ask us about taking lessons with their son or daughter. We typically get that request for guitar or piano lessons and some other instruments as well. Taking music lessons with your child can be an excellent bonding experience for beginning students. Children are very inspired by watching their parents play music. Seeing […]
Should I take music lessons as an adult?
We get the many of the same questions from adults wanting to learn music all the time… Is your music academy only for children? Am I too old to learn to play guitar? Is 65 too old to learn piano? I’ve always wanted to play the violin, can I still learn? The answer is no […]