Practice Tip #4: Don't Forget to Write in the Music

Hello everyone, Sulli here with a very late post! Wasn't trying to have it this late but I've been having more difficulties with technology and some personal issues, so let's cut the chit chat into one sentence: Subscribe and follow please!

Now, as the name of this article suggests there are musicians who think writing in music hinders more than it helps, and I'm here to say that it should be reconsidered. Writing stuff down helps keep thoughts in our memories. Writing something down on its own will help put it into your memory, but when it comes to writing in music you will also have something to help you practice with. You will have your notes in front of you while you practice, and shouldn't forget what you practice.

Of course, this isn't a requirement however is strongly encouraged. I use this a lot with my music as a way to help focus on what I'm learning, however everyone has their own way of learning. The reason I bring this up though, so some musicians haven't learned a way to practice and this would probably be my most recommended way to do that. However there are some rules to using this method, though they are simple.

First, ONLY write in PENCIL that can erase well. No pens, or erasable pen. Chances are if you use pen then you will make a mistake. When you make a mistake, especially on an original it will stick and replacing music is not cheap. The other is if you can write in a copy then do so. It will help extend the life of the original.

Practice Tips #3: Don't Be Afraid to Play Outside Your Comfort Zone

Hey guys, Sulli here with the weekly Practice Tips. Before I continue though, I want to say that I'm sorry about the lack of posts over the past week or so. I've been having some major computer problems so expect a small delay on these and The Composer's Vlog. As always, don't forget to subscribe if you like what you've read and if you would like to enter our contest today on creating a name and/or logo then feel free to do so! There's going to be a special surprise for everyone Friday in order to make up for this!

Today's lesson is not be afraid of getting out of your comfort zone. As most people will know, that tends to be a very common problem with musicians, especially younger ones. The best thing to do is to not be afraid of what you're trying to do. Have the confidence to play what you think it sounds like, versus not playing anything at all. It is better to have learned from ones mistakes than never taking the risk and tried. Another thing to point out now is that some people may not realize they're stuck in a comfort zone "rut", but they may need that special push the get them out. In this case, you or your friend will need some motivation.

Some motivational ideas for younger students (this works on 20 year old college students as well... Trust me on that ;P) is holographic stickers. Give them stickers after going farther outside to learn something new as a reward. If stickers don't work then you can use anything that will get their attention from candy, to new music or simply praise. It's all up to you. For older students or adults who need that kick, then use whatever reward they prefer. The best for some would be going out with friends and having a good time or just spending a night to yourself. It is all up to you. I mean, if you really wanted to you could write a post about what you do and how it makes you feel! :D If you do then don't be afraid to leave a link in the comments! And as always click the links above to follow us on FB, Twitter, or Soundcloud!

Practice Tips #2: Practice Slowly

Hey everyone, Sulli here and I'm back with episode 2 of the Practice Tips series. Today, I'm bringing back an older topic from the previous series and mixing it up a little bit. As the title says, one of the best things to do is practice slowly. If you want to read the original article(and it's worth a look over, but nothing great): http://sulliadm.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-to-practice-episode-1-start-slow.html

Back to the topic, one of the more common problems in musicians is the desire to keep things fast, especially while practicing. While that is not a bad idea if you know what you're playing, the better option is to play slower than you think. The overall objective of practicing is to know what the music you are learning is, not just recognize it through finger motion. Learning it involves not only being able to play it, but to be able to play it starting from anywhere. In order to get that deep of learning something, one must practice slowly.

Another thing to remember when practicing slowly is everything that goes in behind the music, such as bowings/breath marks, articulations, the style of the piece, etc. Run through the piece multiple times at that tempo and do the following: 1st focus on the note accuracy; make sure you can play every note at that tempo and the pitch is correct. 2nd focus on the articulations and bowing/breath markings and enforce those because they are there to make the piece easier or to sound a certain way that the composer likes. Finally focus on the stylistics if there is a style listed.

The way to tell if you're starting off too slow is if you can follow the checklist above and not have any errors. Usually when I'm deciding where to start the tempo at, I usually start with the tempo as written, then dial it back 20. If that's too fast, then I go back in intervals of 5 or as close to that as you can get. After you have completed the song or section several times and feel comfortable speeding up, then do so slowly. Only make tempo jumps in increments of no more than 5 BPM (beats per minute). This insures you are sure you know what you are playing. This process is a long way, however the payoff is you are creating beautiful music. There will be times this will be cumbersome, annoying, and possibly time consuming but I promise this is the way professional musicians like to practice.

So, as you have hopefully seen this thought can be used as a good mentality to practice with whenever one may need it. If you like what you have read then don’t forget to Subscribe to the blog via email (to the right), YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or SoundCloud. As always, thanks for reading and remember to fear the cellos!

Practice Tips #1: A Musician Should Live by Frizzle's Law

Hey guys, Sulli here with the first Practice Tips in a while. I'm going to make this an actual series now, and will have its own tab and picture soon but let's start off slowly. First, let me say I am a 90's kid, so I will use a lot of 90's-00's references when I'm writing these tips so bear with me if you don't quite get them at first. Anyone who has been in a science class at all since the mid-late 80's will recognize this first reference.

                                                  

So, let me go ahead and say one of the biggest problems that I see in students that I've taught or have studied with. They aren't confident enough with their instrument and/or not confident enough with their playing. I, too, have had my fair share of these sorts of mishaps and still do from time to time as well, however what got me through that was with a little saying; live by Frizzle's Law. Now, as you can probably guess I'm referring to Mrs. Frizzle from "Magic School Bus". Her most famous saying is to "take chances, make mistakes, and get messy" and I see it as the perfect example to practice and sight read by.First we have “take chances”. I see this as, "Don't be afraid to take a chance on something new. Do it because you know no matter what, you will benefit from it.” Use this as a way to see a mistake in the practice room or from sight reading as menacing. One will never grow as a musician, or a human being, if they don’t ever look at something new and say it’s too hard. Personally, I love to go for new stuff. I look for the most challenging pieces I can find and try to play through them. If they are completely out of my league then I put it down and come back to it whenever I think I think it’s just the right amount of challenging. That, too, is another point I need to stress as well. If it’s entirely out of your league then don’t force yourself to play it. One should know his or her strengths and weaknesses however don’t ignore it because you think it’s too hard. Give it a look over, or try to play through it. If you can’t make it through, then don’t push yourself too hard.

Next we have, “make mistakes”. Now, in this case I don’t mean to make them intentionally while performing or repeatedly make them when you should have fixed them in the first place. By this part, I mean “Don’t be afraid to make a mistake when practicing because something is too difficult”, or “Don’t let making a mistake in a performance throw you off your zone”. Don’t let a mistake make you frustrated while practicing. Remember that you are simply practicing a piece, not performing it so should there be one then note it and work on it more. A good musician knows when a mistake is from not practicing enough, and when it’s an honest mishap (yes, they will happen whether you’re ready or not). When it is an honest mistake, and you are in a situation where it would not be in the best interest to stop playing then don’t stop. Don’t let a mistake throw you off your zone.

Finally, we must remember to, “get messy”. This doesn’t mean to get messy with your technique, but “Don’t be afraid to sight read music because it might sound messy”. Don’t forget that you are practicing for a performance which shouldn’t sound messy. One should get messy when it comes to practicing and sight reading because the piece shouldn’t be performed messy.

So, as you have hopefully seen this thought can be used as a good mentality to practice with whenever one may need it. If you like what you have read then don’t forget to Subscribe to the blog via email, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or SoundCloud. As always, thanks for reading and remember to fear the cellos! 

How to Practice Episode 10: The Importance of Improvisation (Part 1)

Hey guys and welcome back to the next series of practicing episodes! Sorry about the delay on the episodes but I've been working on a surprise for the blog, so keep posted! Anyways, on to out next episode: The importance of improvisation. Now, to most classically trained musicians (those who are taught based off of classical literature or from classical methods such as learning through Suzuki or from a class) learn to read music and find their ways around it but don't look into improvisation or doing any kind of improvising. However, once the time comes to need that skill they don't know how.

Let's start off with what improvisation is. Improvisation; or improving as most people call it, is the art of playing music on the spot. So say someone gives you a chord (in case you need help remember or haven't learned anything about chords try looking at Episode 10 of the main series or click here), you play notes in that chord make a song. So say for example, someone plays a C and you want to write a "happy" sounding song revolving around a C major chord (C, E, G). Same thing applies for say writing a sad song and are given an A: write out a variation along a A minor chord.

Now let's take a step back and discuss the basics of a melody. Melody can be broken down into Rhythm, Timbre, and Contrast. Rhythm is the basic method of making a melody. Changing the rhythm of a series of notes can make a melody. So, for example taking any C and play it to a beat and (the most important part) vary the rhythm! Start out with two half notes for a few times, then move to quarters, eights, 16th and mix it up! Maybe play a 1 + a, 2 e + for a few bars then mix it up some. Make sure its how you feel because it makes a difference later down the road. Then add notes to the chord, in this case add an E to your C. Keep adding notes to the rhythm your constructing until you've built the chord out. The best way to learn how to improvise is with the use of 7th chords, which is my topic for next week's theory lesson.

Stay tuned for next week's episode as I finish explaining everything!

How to Practice Episode 9: Don't Forget the Pencil!!

How's it going guys? I hope my newest attempt at a meme was to your liking. If you want the link to it then click here. But as it says, we need to cover one of the biggest mistakes made by young musicians (including myself on numerous occasions), which is forgetting your pencil before you practice! It might seem like a waste of time to grab a pencil before you practice but in fact it is probably one of the best things to do when it comes to rehearsing.

The biggest mistake people take when it comes to practicing music is the lack of preparedness. It might come to a shock for some of you, but there is a large amount of thought that goes into preparing to practice. The first point one should realize is they won't remember every change they've made or the director has told us to make. We couldn't ever remember every change that's needed in music, unless someone's trained themselves to do that but that's not a very good idea to do. You can forget what changes you have made and wind up playing the piece wrong. Along with that, why would someone want to stress out more than you need to?

How to Practice Episode 7: Practice with a metronome

Hello guys and welcome back! I know that this is a fairly obvious thing but you would be surprised at how many people overlook this tip. Metronomes have been around before the times of Beethoven but they have gotten better over time. The reason why we use them is to make sure you're practicing at a constant tempo. One should learn a piece at a constant tempo even if it has stuff like accelerando or rubato and after learning it at the main tempo then add the accelerando, rubato or whatever changes the tempo. If you can't play it at the tempo given, then one should practice under the marking. The rule of thumb with myself when I'm practicing is if I'm having problems at the tempo listed I slow it down by 10 or the closest number to 10 below. Then so on until I have a tempo I can play it at well. Then I play it at that tempo until I have played it 5 times perfectly, which I then go to speed it up by the next marking on the metronome. I repeat that until I can get it back to the marked tempo and then a couple of clicks higher just in case the conductor starts the song off on the fast side.

I know this was a really short post but there isn't much I can say about this. If you liked it please follow the Facebook Fan Page (click here), the Twitter page (click here) or subscribe to the blog by email or RSS! I would like to get some people to start posting on the Facebook page about the music they use.

How to Practice Episode 6: The Pyramid of Music

Hello guys and welcome back! Today I have the next episode in the blog's how to practice series which is The Pyramid of Music. This is the basic idea of what to look for when sight reading music and what you should continuously have right when sight reading. This is most useful for students who are learning to sight read and to prevent students who tend to stop in the middle of songs in order to correct things. If you like this post then subscribe to the blog by following me on twitter, on the Facebook fan page or sharing the post by clicking the links at the bottom of this post!

Now, you may be wondering why is sight reading important and my answer for you is your musical life will be so much easier and practicing would be much more effective if you know how to. Say for example you were pressed to learn an etude of some sorts in a week. If you didn't know how to sight read then learning the study would be harder than you would want it to be. Now apply the same scenario from learning an etude in a week to learning your part in a symphony in about a month. The task is simpler knowing how to sight read than it is without knowing.

The more commonly used method in teaching sight reading is the term S.T.A.R.S which stands for Sharps and Flats in the key Signature, Time signature and tempo, Accidentals, Rhythm and Signs. If you would like to review this method more than here is a link to a view of using it. Learning this method will help with sight reading because it is focusing your attention on details that most people would have missed without looking for something. Now let's say you did this but the piece is too hard for you to simply sightread the piece. Here is where the Pyramid comes into play. This is a method I've been developing for a few years and it is a way to for you to know what can I drop if I need to. NEVER USE THIS IN A "JUST BECAUSE" MANNER.

Ok, now the first important thing that comes to music is you need to have the rhythm right and be able to count the time signature. The basis of all music throughout history is rhythm. Think about an indigenous culture from any place on the world, and how they used music to communicate using beats to create chants. This is the fundamental level of music and when sight reading this should be the first focus on what you're reading. If you can get this much right, you are on your way up the pyramid! Following this step the next level of importance is knowing what key your in and knowing how they fit into place with your music. Most music has some kind of central key that it fits around, which is identified by the key signature. You should be able to identify what key you're in and play according to that key. immediately following this is noticing the accidentals. If you spot accidentals when sight reading music then note them in your mind and make sure you play them when you go back over them. Finally you need to note anything else that you missed before hand which are articulations, bowings/breath marks, dynamics and anything else that wasn't mentioned. Finally the top of the pyramid is putting emotion into the piece.

So, as you have seen this is my pyramid idea for sight reading. As I've stated a few times before one shouldn't use it in everyday circumstances, only if your sight reading a piece that the director or  your instructor wants you to look through. I hope this helps you guys and I'm working on my next contest so stay tuned! And don't forget to follow me on twitter, facebook or by email and if you liked this post or any post then share it!

New idea for the blog *NEED EVERYONE'S INPUT*

Ok guys, as you may or may not know there is a large number of international viewers and in celebration of being seen in every developed country in the world last night, I want to hold a new contest that will benefit everyone! Someone at Winthrop gave me the idea that I should host a mini cultural event with everyone on here. Basically I would give you a sample of my life here in SC along with a song that I feel is a cultural song from the US and you would send to me (via Twitter, the Facebook Fanpage, over email or as a comment on the page) a little bit about yourself and a song from your country. I'm going to start with mine on here and we'll see how far we can go. If I like yours then I will post it on here in a new series for the rest of the world to see. So, let me know via Facebook, Twitter, email, or comment below and don't forget to share this page with your friends!

How to Practice Episode 5: Play outside your box

Alfred 00-0483S Suzuki Cello School Cello Part- Volume 3 - Music Book

Hello and welcome back to his segment of How to Practice. This time I have a different (or at least less commonly thought about) technique for helping you practice; Practice outside your comfort zone. This means a few different things; like playing harder music or playing different music than what your use to. I say that you should do all of that and more!

Many people who don't like being outside the box are afraid of messing up and looking stupid when they do. Don't be afraid to make mistakes when you’re playing! Just believe in what you’re playing and if you mess up, then say "Ah well" and shake it off. That is easier said than done, I know but sometimes you have to get out of that block. As long as you’re not on stage giving a concert then it shouldn't matter whether you make a mistake or two. The point is as long as you’re learning something new and pushing your limits then you will be fine! Challenges come and go all the time and the courage is in trying to push your own limits because you are only limited to the extension of your imagination and technical know-how. If that means you are just starting out and know only how to produce a few "noises" or you are like what I did the other day at the SC Cello Choir and was the only 1st chair player in a couple of the rehearsals sight reading material and techniques I had never seen before. The point is you need to not be limited to what your mind knows what to do, but you should do what your mind thinks you can't do because that is the only way to learn anything but especially music.

As I stated before, I was the only cellist in Section I that didn't go to the advanced orchestra rehearsal because I felt like it would be better if I made the pieces I had sound the best I could get them to sound over being in both groups. That is the only exception to my rule: If you don't feel comfortable preforming something in the slightest, then don't add on. That only creates a train wreck. You should push yourself but at the same time know where your limits to your abilities are. You should aim a higher then you did before but not too high. If you’re reading Suzuki Book 4, then aim for the 5th or maybe the 6th, but not anything higher. For those who are learning through the Hal Leonard books, then go one page to about 2 or 3 ahead but no more than that. You don't want to try to push too much.

Now before I leave you I had a question for you. Is there enough regular viewers to start a contest on or what do you guys think I should do? You can email me, tweet me, use my hashtag, or facebook me. If you want to be heard, have a question, want to tell me how I'm doing or just want to make a suggestion on something to talk about or more review ideas. I'm here to talk to you about music! Also, if you want to create fan art I would love to see it! If not I will create a new logo soon enough!

Alfred 00-0481S Suzuki Cello School Cello Part- Volume 2 - Music Book 

Episode 6: Simple and Compound Meter

Alfred 00-16643 Essential Dictionary of Music Theory - Music Book (Google Affiliate Ad)

Hello and welcome back to the Music Theory Blog! Today's long awaited episode is about the difference between Simple and Compound Meter. I am here to help you along with understanding the material better by showing examples of what I am explaining and we'll see if this makes it better to understand!

 Now first, for those who are new comers, you must understand what the time signature is. The Time Signature is the symbol that shows musicians how many notes are in a measure and what note value gets the beat. For Example, 4/4 time means there are 4 notes in a measure that a quarter note gets the beat. If you need more help with understanding this, refer back to episode 4.

In order to understand why the two types of time signatures are important, you must understand what they are. A Simple Meter is a meter that's time signature breaks down into two parts. For example, you can divide a whole note into two half notes, a half note into two quarter notes, and so on. This is what most music is written as, which are 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4. Any variation of the signature will work, for example you can say 2/8, 3/2, or 2.16 as long as the measure breaks down into two parts anything is possible. Here is an example of a piece that is in 4/4, "Prelude" from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1. Some other examples of music you might see with a simple meter is Common Time and Cut Time. Common time () is simply another way to write out 4/4 and Cut time () is a simpler way to write 2/2.

Now, the difference from a simple meter to a compound meter is a Compound Meter divides the beat into 3 parts rather than 2. For example a commonly seen compound meter you may rn into is 6/8. There are 6 beats in a measure but most of the time it is felt in two parts and is conducted the same. The most common types of compound meter are 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8 but changing the lower number would work the same. Here is an audible example of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" which is written in 9/8.

If you like the new way I constructed the lessons, let me know by sending me an email, or message me on Twitter.

Update: From the Eyes of College

Hello, and for all of those who have been checking on the page daily thank you so much! I have had a few of you email me about when the next episode will be up and my answer is... I don't know! I am working hard in college and I haven't been having much free time in school or outside of it, but I have a few ideas for you guys and I want all of you to give me your opinions! Here is what I was thinking... What if I created a big "fan supported music demonstration" sort of set that anyone can submit to. Say you wrote out a full song, or just a simple little melody it doesn't matter. Just submit it to me and I will put a link to it in the blog and have it shared. I had one person already submit me something and I will have it on here soon. It is a song for a starting out strings class and has a very driven feel to it that I like a lot. So, if you have any kind of song that you wrote and want advertised on here, then send it to my email and all of your responses to my question. If we get 200 responses, I will post something I've been writting on the side on here for you guys to review for me! So start sending those replies in, and use the header as "From The Eyes Of College" so I can tell why I am being flooded! Thanks, and keep checking in!

Episode Recap 1: Episodes 1-5 Part 1

Hello and welcome back! Now before I begin the recap let's go over a few things. 1st off, you may have noticed the button above me. Finances are really low, especially if you want more reviews so please donate anything you feel comfortable donating to me. I am wanting to do more reviews and if you want to see more, then any money is good money! With that said, I promise I WILL NOT go crazy with the button! The only time I will post it is on general recaps (like such), and reviews. I want to provide everyone with a few service to learn music theory, tricks from professionals, and reviews so you aren't wasting your money on pointless or terrible stuff for your instruments (and yes, I have used some terrible stuff, and amazing stuff so I know what's good and what's not).

With that out of the way, I bet you're wondering "What's an 'Episode Recap'?". I feel after so many episodes on all my topics, I will post one giant summery for you on what is in that section. For today, this episode recap is on episodes 1-5, which are:

-Episode 1: Musical Alphabet and Note Values

-Episode 2: Sharps and Flats

-Episode 3: Treble and Bass Clef

-Episode 4: Defining the Signatures

-Episode 5: Dynamic Contrast

Now how this is going to work is like a review over the selections, and explain some harder to explain things.

Episode 1:

This was a presentation-Only entry so most people didn't read this entry, so I will count this as the actual lesson. There are two main elements when reading music: a Note and a Tone. A note is the visual representation of a sound (♪). The actual sound that goes with it is the tone. We could say that the note is an A, or a C but we don't see that when we are watching a group play: We hear the tones of the chord(s) the person or people playing make but we don't see the (♪) in front of us unless you brought sheet music with you.

When you link them together in any pattern going up or down until you repeat the first note, you get a Scale. There is no simple number of notes in a scale, because there are so many different types of scales. However, there is a "Western" standard of scales, which has 8 tones in a repeating pattern. I will discuss this more later on in the episode review. 

Now we have to discuss the Musical Alphabet. This is the way musicians learn their notes, and it is always repeating: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. 

A standard Octave or simply the "Western" style of 8 note scales, is the repetition of one note. For example take a C scale. If we wrote it out we would have C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. The bold C is an octave higher than the one we started on. This works out on the entire musical alphabet.

Now, we talk about basic note values. They work the same was as fractions, which is they break down and are seen as fractions, like for example ♪ is an eighth note while ♫ is two eighth notes or a quarter note. The way the notes flow is demonstrated in the following picture:

The top note is a whole note, and it breaks down into two half notes. each half note breaks down into two quarter notes and so on all the way down the line. This is the proper way to subdivide notes. Now we must figure out how this fits into a staff. A Staff is a bar with 5 lines and 4 spaces that fit together and are split to make Measures. This will be further explained in a later chapter.

Episode 2:

Going back to notes on a staff, you can have either Sharps, Flats, or Naturals. Naturals are notes that haven't been altered and these are the white keys on a piano. Then if you take that note and go up a half step (going from a white key UP to a black key) your going from a natural to a sharp. When you go down a half step (going from a white key DOWN to a black key) your going from a natural to a flat. *Editor's Note* I just realized there was a glitch in the episode, and I fixed it so it's legible.

Episode 3:

There are 2 major clefts to playing most instruments. You have Treble, or the G cleft, which is the higher side and you have the Bass, or the F cleft, uses the lower side. Back to the discussion on scales. The "western" or non-asian countries use a standard for scales which goes with the "standard" of 8 notes that repeat at the base note but at a distance of an octave. For example: C Major is C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.

How to Practice Episode 4: Practice the Basics

Welcome back everyone! Now I know it can get very annoying to practice scales over and over again but you have to know your basics. There are many reasons why you need to know them, such as:

1). The basic skills of your instrument is what makes you a musician. If you didn't know how to play simple stuff, then how could you play the more complicated? For example how can you play work by Bach and Beethoven when you don't know the simple stuff.

2). There are crucial skills you can practice on scales that makes your whole style of playing better if you practice them on scales. For example, vibrato is a great example that you should practice on scales. Vibrato adds so much tonal flare to music, and is probably the biggest divider between musicians. However, it can be a hassle at times to practice so remember that an hour a week of nothing but good practicing is better than 3 hours a day of bad practice.


3). Practicing the easy stuff helps you be able to do things like improvising from being able to tell the chord progression and scales in the music and being better acquainted with your instrument. That is a huge factor when it comes to improving, because the less you are close to your instrument the more nerve wracking it will be. Your instrument is like your best friend, especially when your alone on a stage that has been lighted up.  

Episode 10: Scale Theory

Hello and welcome back!

Sorry I haven't posted in the actual episodes in a while, but college seems to keep me busy no matter which way I turn. But today, our lesson is to explain what a scale is and give you some to practice!

First off, we need to figure out how to define a scale. A scale is a series of notes in an ascending or descending pattern. For example, let's start with the note C. There are many different scale involving the letter C but they have to follow some kind of pattern. As I said before there are many different types of scales, but the over all feel is there are two basic scales: a major and a minor. Just like they sound, the major scale sounds brighter than the minor. The whole understanding of scales goes back to understanding intervals, which was the topic of the last two episodes (episode 8 episode 9).

The basic progression of a Major scale is W W H W W W H, where W is a whole step and H is a half step. Now let's apply this to a scale, and since the basis of all music is C let's develop a C major scale. It starts on C, then a whole step up would lead to a D (C#- D), followed by a whole step to an E (D#- E) but then we hit the half step in which we get an F. A whole step to G (F#- G), then an A (G#- A), followed by another whole step to B (A#- B) and then we have our last half step back to C. So a C major scale is C D E F G A B C. Now, let's do another example with F. Start with the note given, and follow the intervals above. So a whole step above would be G, another whole step to A but then we get to the half step which we use Bb. Now we need another whole step to C, another whole step to D a final whole step to E and then the half step back to F. So the scale is F G A Bb C D E F. Ok, let do one last example with G. Follow the guide and you should get G A B C D E F# G. The F# in this example and the Bb in the previous one are ways to indicate a key. F# is the only sharp and the rule of key signatures is take the last sharp and raise it a half step. The trick to flat key signatures is take the second to last flat and that is your key, however the key of F is the only key that doesn't follow this rule. So if we went up to the next flat in the order of sharps and flats, it would be Eb but the key would be Bb.

Now the trick to minor scales is moving the pattern above back two spots. For example, the natural minor of C is A minor, and is played like C but starting on A. The same is true for the other scale above; the natural minor of F is D minor and the natural minor of G is E minor. The pattern is W H W W H W W. A minor would be  A B C D E F G A, D minor would be D E F G A Bb C D, and finally E minor would be E F# G A B C D E.

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How to Practice Episode 3 - Don't get frustrated

Hello, and welcome back! Sorry for the delay but between getting ready for college, graduation, and the simple uncanny timing of life's messages has put me back a bit!

Now, on to the lesson: Not getting frustrated from practicing and not getting results. I know how hard that is, practicing the Haydn Cello Concerto No. 1 for the past month and still can't play a simple line that shouldn't take more than one or two times through to be able to preform. There are just some things in life that will get you down, and you must put effort to keep going through them and continue to practice them. Always remember the music is nothing more than ink on a piece of paper, or pixels on a screen. If you keep putting effort towards the song and continue to work on it constructively then you will see progress. Here are some examples of breaking a piece down:

If you notice that the piece is getting higher than the range you know how to play is, then practice a scale that resembles that phrase, or find a scale that gets you to go that high. In my previous statement of the Haydn Cello Concerto No. 1, I have problems with the highest part of the song that seems unapproachable. However, when you break the phrase down into it's fundamental level it is nothing more than a G major scale so I practice a G major scale in 3 octaves, focusing most of my effort on the last octave in tune and getting vibrato on the notes. Start off slowly, then build yourself up to the speed of the piece.

If you notice that there is a rhythm that you can't seem to play, then use "tick" marks, or a / above each beat, or subdivided beat. This one can explained to cellist, using the Haydn, with the whole thumb position phrase that is heard multiple times throughout the piece. If you write in those marks above the 8th note beat (the song is slow, and is normally conducted in 8 instead of 4), then it will help to count the piece/ Once you write in the notes then work slowly counting by clapping the beat out loud with a recording or your teacher play the phrase.

If you don't feel like you are remembering the dynamics enough, or your director says you aren't playing them enough then take the song and look for all the crescendos and decrescendos and use a "hot" color (red, orange or yellow) to indicate the crescendos and a "cool" color (green, blue or purple) to indicate the decrescendos. Experts have proven that colors pop out at you subcontiously and you will be reminded to play them. My only suggestion is not to do this on originals.

May Video Contest: No winner yet!

There isn't a winner for this months video submission yet so please, submit now while there is still time!

The contest is a video contest on musicians who want to show off their skills on camera. I will select a video and post it on here, Facebook, and Twitter with links back to your page. So if you want to be advertised, then come on a post a video of you playing your instrument!

Episode 5: Dynamic Contrast

Welcome back to the blog, now with a new title and new series that you should take a look at in your free time. However, today's lesson is on dynamics and their importance. Dynamics is the volume of a note or series of a notes. Traditionally, volume is ranged from a Forte (f) to Piano (p). Forte means to play loudly, while piano means to play quietly. The range is controlled by either instantly changing music from being loud to soft and vice versa, or with a Crescendo (<) or a Decrescendo (>), which means going from one dynamic to the other Gradually. You can also write music as a crescendo from a piano to a forte or as a decrescendo from a forte to a piano. Just keep in mind that you need to keep the change within the style that you are playing, like a forte can't blast everyone's eardrums if you are playing a song that just needs to be under another part, but you need to play loud enough to be heard well.

Now, later on in music we move onto and see mf (Mezzo Forte) and mp (Mezzo Piano). Mezzo means to play moderately, or slightly less than (or more than) the dynamic. So for example, a mf would be read as a slightly less than forte, so you play under forte. For mp you should think it is moderately piano, so slightly louder than a piano. Finally, we get to extreme dynamics which are Fortissimo (and above) and Pianissimo (and below). Fortissimo, or ff, is the loudest you can get without making the tone sound bad.

How to Practice: Episode 2 - Using YouTube and Recordings

Welcome Bach everyone! Today's tip of the day is on how to use YouTube and other forms of recording to your advantage. Teachers will not normally agree with this tip because watching the video too many times may go against what he or she is trying to teach. For example, search "Bach Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude" and look at how many results you get. Think about how many variants there are in each performance, because no two people will play it the exact same. However if you use this the way I believe is the best way to do, you will increase efficiency in your practicing.

YouTube has now become a world wide business for almost anything you want to see. You can go on there and search for videos on the "Traxxas Rustler" and find several thousand videos (When searched on 5/23/12, I found 13,900!), and as stated above if you search for "Bach Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude" you will find a large number of people preforming it (On 5/23/12 there was 4,720). Keywords does make a difference, however that's a topic for the end of the lesson. Anyways, as I said, when you search for Bach's Prelude from Suite No. 1, you see there are almost 5,000 performances of that song alone, and rarely does the same video get re-posted, so the overall possibilities are varied greatly. One person could begin with the first phrase (the phrase almost everyone recognizes when someone starts playing) very well, but make a small mistake in the second phrase. Then take another video and that person might play it very well throughout, but not stick to the stylistics perfectly throughout. There are many possible differences, and that is the 1st reason why this is a good way to practice: Find a couple recordings that suit either how you imagine the piece to sound or how your teacher thinks it should sound and begin listening to them constantly.

The more you listen to a piece, the more familiar you feel when you see the sheet music. Just picking up the sheet music, you can see how "insane" it looks, or how much of a push in mental and physical level that the piece will push you but unless you already know the piece the sheet music will look a little foreign. It's like when you go to a new school: You can see from the outside of the building that there are few classes, or many classes in the building. You can also tell when you get inside the same thing, but you see more than you did before, but until you actually walk around the school and see for yourself where everything is and know where you should be, the place is pretty much foreign territory to you. The same applies to music. You hear Prelude and you hear that there is a lot going on, but the melody is pretty straight forward. When you get the sheet music however, you see that there is a whole lot more to the sheet music than you anticipated (most people don't know that the piece is almost entirely 16th notes). But just from hearing you know that it is fairly simple to learn.

Another advantage of this tip is when you see some people playing the music, it helps develop fingerings and articulations you may or may not have thought about using before. For example, watch someone preform the Haydn Cello Concerto No. 1, and see how many possible fingerings there are for some of the actual performance. Same rule applies to articulations, if someone wasn't aware that Haydn was from the Classical time period and thought he was from the Baroque era, the articulations of his music would be entirely different. However, by listening to the music you can tell that he wasn't from the Baroque era.

Remember that this is no substitute for practicing, this is simply a tool to make practicing easier, and more efficient.

How to Practice: Episode 1 - Start Slow

Hello everyone, and welcome to my new series on how to practice. There are many students who are wonderful musicians but don't know what it is like to practice a piece in a way that is easy, and effective, and that is why they don't practice as much as they should. So, in order to fight that urge (and yes, being a high school student heading off to college soon, I know how boring it is to practice at times!) I am starting a series to help people fight that urge and hopefully make you or your student(s) better musicians.

The most common problem I see as a cellist is people don't want to take music under tempo. If the piece is written at a presto, we as students want to preform the piece at that tempo or faster. So my advice to you is to slow it down! You don't need to have the tempo mastered when you are sight reading the for the first time (unless your in a competition and you must). Reducing the tempo will save you not only you stress, but will make you a better musician. By slowing it down when your learning the piece, you get to see the notes that normally might miss, or miss the stylistics that you need for a piece.

Music is about more than just going through a piece and hitting every note and hitting every dynamic. You need to respect the style of the piece (you can't play something Baroque in the same style you would play something like Metallica!), and should respect articulations (you shouldn't play something legato that should be spiccato or vice versa!). Practicing slowly helps improve those qualities of the music and makes more effect on less time.

The best way to tell what tempo you should take a piece is slow it down to the point that it doesn't sound like what you've heard or what the tempo is written as. Run through the piece multiple times at that tempo and do the following: 1st focus on the note accuracy; make sure you can play every note at that tempo and the pitch is correct. 2nd focus on the articulations and bowing/breath markings and enforce those because they are there to make the piece easier or to sound a certain way that the composer likes. Finally focus on the stylistics if there is a style listed.

After you have completed that several times and feel comfortable speeding up, then do so slowly. Only make tempo jumps in increments of no more than 5 BPM (beats per minute). This insures you are sure you know what you are playing. This process is a long way, however the payoff is you are creating beautiful music. There will be times this will be cumbersome, annoying, and possibly time consuming but I promise this is the way professional musicians like to practice.

If you have any questions about the material in any of my other series, anything music or what to see something else, send me a message on Twitter (@sulliadm), over Facebook (sulliadm) Google+ (sulliadm) or send me an email. If you liked what you are reading, or want me to continue with the series share my articles. It would be greatly appreciated!