Learning Musicals By Ear? What Broadway Shows Can Teach Us About Musical Aptitude
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Learning music by ear is the most effective way to learn music.  Of course we would say that, we are the (self professed) masters of learning music by ear and we’ve set up an entire school devoted to it.  However we are still very confident about that fact and we want to take a moment to talk about how learning by ear can be addressed to any number of types of music, even broadway!

Let’s walk you through an example of one of the most popular broadway musicals today, Wicked.  It’s got a variety of songs throughout its run that can be easily understood and taught by ear.  Furthermore it’s a great musical to take the family to, kids seem to like it, and it’s probably not going anywhere since its so popular (so it makes a good example for posterity purposes).

Song 1 – Defying Gravity

This song is the finale of Act 1. (EDIT: It’s not the first song in the play, as it might seem with my incorrect wording of the article, its just the first song we are going to talk about here.  Sorry for the misunderstanding!)

Take a listen first…

Boy, they really hit it out of the park.  But if you listen closely there is nothing that can’t be picked up by a careful ear.  How would sheet music really help this in particular?  We go over this all the time with our students, but we’ll restate it here.

Music theory is great for the budding academic.  Knowing the history and development of music as it relates to math and all that jazz is great too.  All those things are worthy pursuits in their own right, however they don’t really touch on *playing music*.

This is why learning by ear is so important, it jumps you right into the thick of it.  Let’s take another listen to these wonderful players sing another song…

Song 2 – Wicked Witch of the East

This is in the middle of the second act.  Sorry for the quality in this video, it was shot by a fan it what seems like a handheld camcorder from 1989.  The music still comes through so it will have to do for now (couldn’t find any other versions on the Wicked official site).

Again, we can hear clearly (well, not so clearly because of the bad recording, but close enough) that sheet music or music theory is not needed.  If you still think that we need to take a look at sheet music, perhaps you should pay us a visit during our summer sessions.

Let’s finish up this triumvirate with a last song, this one is a doozy.

Wicked Finale – Bubble Trouble

This finale song is again a little less quality then the first song (since it wasn’t an official recording). Take a listen:

Sad, right? Well, don’t get caught up in it just yet.  How do you think this would have portrayed on sheet music?  Does it really, really matter?

Hope you enjoyed these videos, let us know in the comments!

Our New Renovated Studios In Time for Summer Camp!
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Hey everyone! We just wanted to take a quick minute to talk about some of the great renovations we’ve made to our studios and facilities in time for the summer camp this year.  We are very proud of the changes that improvements that we’ve made, so we figured a little blog post wouldn’t hurt anybody!

Our facilities are top notch and we are dedicated to insuring that they stay that way throughout the years.  Sometimes this will mean a full overhaul and a redesign/renovation of our indoor studios.   that’s what we’ve put into action in the past few months, and here are a few bullet points.

New Soundproofing

Our indoor studios have new soundproofing installed along with the latest cutting edge sound technology to insure the best possible experience.  Students and instructors will now be able (if they choose) to record high quality music whenever they please.  (If you are interested in booking these studios or would like your son/daughter to take a more active role in recording music, give us a call!)

Fully Gutted and Renovated Buildings

The dumpster is empty now, but we filled it up quickly with the debris from our renovation.
The dumpster is empty now, but we filled it up quickly with the debris from our renovation.

Through some extensive contracting work, including demolition crews, commercial dumpster rentals and equipment and even contracting with interior designers, our new buildings are as good as new.  We’d like to take this post to thank all the hard work of our staff, volunteers and those contrators which we worked with in order to accomplish this.  It’s been quite a ride, and while sometimes we thought we never get it done in time for the summer, here we are! Great props to everyone involved, thanks so much!

Outdoor Picnic Area

As with almost any summer camp its important to be outdoors a large portion of the time.  So for this reason we’ve decided to also revamp our outdoor areas with some new picnic tables, a nice lawn and pruned and trimmed trees and hedges.  These finishing touches are *just* about done so we don’t have any pictures to share at the moment (but we will update this to include them very soon!).

Special thanks to the tree service company that helped us to both design the layout of the new areas and remove some tree stumps that were getting in the way of our plans.

Interested in Seeing More? Pay us a visit!

If you want to check out these new changes for yourself, including a free tour of our new facilities and how they can help your kids to be the best musicians they can be, then pay us a visit!  Either give us a call or come on down anytime and speak with on of our managers.  We’d be glad to show you around, especially with our newly revamped studios and buildings!

Basic of Playing Guitar
Guitar Lessons

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Have you always wanted to learn how to play guitar? A lot of people out there operate under a lot of false assumptions that it is hard to learn how to play one. They also believe that they must have a musical talent. Worse off are those that believe that it is too late to learn music. If you don’t have musical talent, well and good, you do not need it, if you have one, then we are ready to go. Once you master a few basics, you can teach yourself how to play it too.

How to Hold the Guitar

Just like you learn to walk before you learn to run, knowing how to hold a guitar correctly will build your fundamental skills necessary for you to play any complex music comfortably. To hold a guitar properly, Sit on an appropriate chair. Guitar stools are among the best and are right for practicing. A good guitar chair should be hard-backed with no arm rests. Orient your guitar correctly with your dominant hand being your “Strumming hand”. And the non-dominant being the “fretting hand” . Balance your guitar on your thighs and angle your neck up, preferably at 45 degrees with your guitar. Secure it with the elbow and the forearm of your dominant hand. This can be difficult but with time, you can be familiar.

How to Hold a Guitar Pick

Just a simple way of holding the guitar pick can make a big difference.
Just a simple way of holding the guitar pick can make a big difference.

A guitar pick or a plectrum are tricky to use for the first time. To do this, hold the plectrum between your index finger and your thumb and then grasp it firmly so that you can strike the strings. The plectrum should be halfway in and the rest of the digit of your index finger. The pick should be held in your strumming hand. With the pick, there is no right or wrong, all you need to do if find what works best for you.

Tune Your Guitar

Tuning your guitar is a good habit as it is not fun to play guitar that is not in tune and can lead to bad habits especially when you are starting out. When you tune your guitar, you will be familiar with the fret combinations and each string and their combinations with the different notes. If you cannot afford a tuner, you can tune without using one by matching each note to a corresponding one on the piano.

Conclusion

Practice makes perfect. If your chords don’t sound good, do not get frustrated. All you need to do is build up the finger strength, and all will improve with time always use your pick as plucking the strings with your fingers may hurt you. The more practices you make, the more enjoyable it becomes.

State of Texas Declares March 7, 2014 Natural Ear Music Day
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Natural Ear Music School is proud to announce that the great State of Texas will recognize the school with its own official day! March 7, 2014 will forever be known as Natural Ear Music day.  This honor is in recognition for our past, present an ongoing contributions to music education. More than anything, this is about our students and parents who are the lifeblood and body of our school.  Without our hardworking young rockers and their parents who care to cultivate their talents, none of this would be possible. Thank you.