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Musicality Now — Music
Musicality Now

Ever wondered why some people seem to have a gift for music? Have you wished that you could play by ear, sing in tune, improvise and jam? You are in the right place.

Musicality Now is a mix of interviews and teaching, featuring some of the most inspiring and insightful musicians and music educators, talking about how to learn the core inner skills you need to feel like a “natural” in music and enjoy freedom, creativity and confidence.

Topics include: Playing by ear, Singing in tune, Jamming with other musicians, Having a good sense of rhythm, Writing your own music, Writing notation, Improvising a solo, Talking intelligently about music, Understanding Music Theory, Clapping in time, Knowing your instrument inside and out, Tuning your instrument by ear, Reading notation, Sight-reading music, Playing from a lead sheet, Performing live, and Playing multiple instruments.

Musicality Now is brought to you by Musical U (musical-u.com), the leading provider of musicality training online. Learn more and get shownotes at musicalitynow.com.

Copyright: © Copyright 2017 Musical U (Easy Ear Training Ltd.)

Latest Episodes:

197: Intimidating - or Inspiring? You Choose Aug 14, 2019

Show notes

When you see an incredible musician - are you inspired? Or are you intimidated?

Believe it or not, this reaction is not something that happens to you - it's something entirely within your control, and flipping from one to the other can have a massive positive effect on your musical life.

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 197

Links and Resources

• The Truth About Talent, with Professor Anders Ericsson

• Do You Have An "Inner Natural Musician"? Here's How To Know

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196: Your Codex and Creativity Aug 07, 2019

Show notes

Have you been losing your enthusiasm for learning music? Or perhaps you're loving it - but don't seem to be making much progress.

Believe it or not, both of these can stem from the same root problem. And it turns out the famous painter Leonardo da Vinci has the solution for you...

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 196

Links and Resources

• Musicality Now - A Mindset for Musicality, with Natalie Weber

• Musicality Now - About You Being Musical Inside Already

• Musicality Now - About the Importance of Joy and Pleasure

• Musicality Now - Can't Improvise? There's just one thing holding you back

• Musicality Now - How to Improve AND Enjoy Your Musical Life

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195: Boosting Musical Brainpower, with Josh Turknett (Brainjo) Jul 31, 2019

Show notes

Today's interview is among the most fascinating we've had on the show to date. We're joined by Dr. Josh Turknett, the neurologist, best-selling author and musician behind "Brainjo" - a music-learning methodology which originated on banjo but applies across all instruments, and which is designed to leverage modern scientific insights on how the brain actually learns.

At the Brainjo Center for Neurology & Cognitive Enhancement Josh tackles the question "Is it possible to take any ordinary adult brain and turn it into the brain of a musician?" - and finds strong evidence that the answer is a resounding "Yes!"

He is also the host of the terrific Intelligence Unshackled Podcast, which focuses on how to optimise the health and function of the brain, including its capacity to learn and change itself.

If you've ever wondered how exactly the brain learns new things, or whether your music-learning process is really dialed in to help you learn as quickly and enjoyably as possible - you are going to absolutely love this one.

In this conversation Josh shares:

• A completely new way to think about how you're spending your music practice time

• An explanation of how to use visualisation to help you improve faster - and when exactly to do that visualisation.

• The "labyrinth technique" to focus your practice time on what will deliver the biggest impact.

We also talk about how playing by ear on banjo is - and isn't - different from other instruments, how playing complex music by ear actually works, how the adult brain compares to the child's brain for learning - and a whole lot more.

You will come away with several new ideas that change how you think about your music learning.

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 195

Links and Resources

• The Immutable Laws of Brainjo

• The Immutable Laws of Brainjo - Why Anyone Can (and should!) Learn To Play By Ear

• The Immutable Laws of Brainjo - The Secret To Staying Motivated

• The Immutable Laws of Brainjo - The Advantages of Having an Adult Brain

• The Immutable Laws of Brainjo - The Most Important Skill You Probably Never Practice

• Intelligence Unshackled Podcast

• Intelligence Unshackled - Why You Should Embrace Your Ineptitude

• David Epstein - "Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World"

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194: A Simple Tip for Indecision and Analysis-Paralysis Jul 24, 2019

Show notes

Have you ever struggled to make a decision in your musical life?

You don't want to miss this tip from a kid named James - it might just save you from indecision and "analysis paralysis" forever more…

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 194

Links and Resources

• Summer Of Transformation Promotion

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193: More Mindful, More Musical, with Susanne Olbrich Jul 17, 2019

Show notes

We are very excited to have Susanne Olbrich on the show! Trained by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, Susanne is a specialist in mindfulness for musicians. She is a musician herself and committed to exploring the benefits of mindfulness for musicians.

In this conversation we talk about Susanne's own story and about mindfulness for musicians. But we go deeper than just the surface level you might be expecting…

We talk about:

• How mindfulness helped her and how it can help you

• How to relate to the spiritual perspective on mindfulness if it doesn't resonate with you - especially if you're more scientifically minded

• An important note about who should take care in exploring mindfulness

• Deep listening and how it relates to mindfulness and the "active listening" we've talked about on this show before.

Susanne also leads us through a "mindful moment" to give you a "taster" experience of what mindfulness is all about.

We hope we can tempt her back to provide some training for MU members in future.

As you'll hear her say, it's not a magic bullet cure-all as some in the media like to portray it as - but it certainly can be a musical superpower and one well worth adding to your own musical identity.

Whether you've never heard of mindfulness, you've heard of it and thought it's not for you, you've been curious but never tried it, or you're already practicing mindfulness and enjoying the benefits in your musical life, we hope you'll enjoy this conversation and get a ton out of it.

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 193

Links and Resources

• Susanne Olbrich - Pianist, Music Teacher, Mindfulness Facilitator

• Free 10 minute guided mindfulness meditation

• Susanne Olbrich music, including Marama Trio

• Plum Village

• The Difference Between Hearing and Listening: Deep Listening with Composer Pauline Oliveros

• Jack Kornfield - "Meditation for Beginners"

• Musicality Now - "About Mindfulness for Musicians"

• Musicality Now - "Note2Self: "I Love This!", with Lisa McCormick"

• "Ending the Vicious Circle of Negative Habits" - Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh

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192: From Mechanics to Organics, with Bradley Sowash Jul 12, 2019

Show notes

Today we're joined by Bradley Sowash, an educator specialising in creativity and improvisation who we've long admired in the world of online music education.

Bradley is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, recording artist and educator. He's the author of That's Jazz, a nine-volume jazz piano method and is also known for his live online group jazz piano classes. He runs 88 Creative Keys along with Leila Viss, who's a past guest on this show. They host webinars and workshops helping music teachers bring more creativity into their lessons.

In this interview we talk about,

• The one piece of advice from a restaurant pianist that changed Bradley's trajectory from a sheet-music reader to a primarily by-ear player

• How the piano can be seen as an orchestra with four distinct layers

• How customising a melody can be an easy first step in improvisation, and 3 specific embellishments you can try right now on any melody you know how to play

You're going to love hearing about Bradley's own musical journey and how that's all fed into the educator he is today, as well as the examples and demonstrations he provides along the way to illustrate what it means to bring creativity and musicality to your playing.

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 192

Links and Resources

• Bradley Sowash Music

• Bradley Sowash - "That's Jazz"

• Musicality Now - Getting Under the Hood, with Leila Viss

• 88 Creative Keys

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191: Rewind: A Mindset for Music Theory Jul 03, 2019

Show notes

Music theory is one of the most mystifying and confusing topics for many musicians. But, does it have to be this way?

Today, we'll be discussing music theory and some mindset shifts you can take to open up the world of theory to your mind and ears. And make it a more accessible and enjoyable experience.

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 191

Links and Resources

• Musicality Now - Why and How to Learn Theory, with Matthew Scott Phillips and Jeremy Burns

• Musicality Now - How to Improvise For Real, with David Reed

• Musicality Now - Fundamentals Over Flash, with John Hatcher

• Richard Wagner - "Tristan und Isolde", Prelude

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190: 100% Emotion, With Michele McLaughlin Jun 26, 2019

Show notes

Today on the show we're talking with Michele McLaughlin, a contemporary solo pianist who has recorded 18 albums - roughly one each year since starting to release her music in the year 2000. She is one of the most popular solo pianists on Spotify and was recently interviewed in Rolling Stone magazine.

Her music may sometimes get classified as "new age". However, as you'll hear in this conversation, that's a misleading label that doesn't do justice to the emotional variety and powerful storytelling of her music.

It was fascinating to hear about her improvisational approach to composing and there are lots of ideas here for anyone interested in being more creative or expressive in their playing.

We talk about:

• The concert she attended at eight years old that inspired her to start creating her own music

• Her "100% emotion" approach to improvising and the process that takes her from improvising to a finished piece on an album

• How she thinks about learning and improving her skills year by year

You'll love hearing Michele describe her music but you must go listen to it too! We'll have links in the shownotes, including for her latest album, Memoirs, or you can find it at michelemclaughlin.com.

This is one of those interviews that will have you itching to run off and spend some quality time with your instrument exploring new possibilities - enjoy!

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 190

Links and Resources

• Michele McLaughlin Online

• Michele McLaughlin - "Memoirs"

• Michele McLaughlin YouTube

• Michele McLaughlin Spotify

• George Winston Spotify

• Chad Lawson Spotify

• Ludovico Einaudi Spotify

• Jim Brickman Spotify

• Louis Landon Spotify

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189: How To Handle Musical Mistakes With Grace Jun 20, 2019

Show notes

Everything's going great, the music's flowing through you, the audience is enthralled, and then argh! - You play a wrong note!

What do you do in that moment? How do you handle the mistake with grace and recover in the best possible way?

In this episode we share two mindset tips and two practical tips for that, both in a performance situation - and in the bigger picture of your overall musical life.

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 189

Links and Resources

• Musicality Now - About Recovering From Mistakes

• Musicality Now - Is Aiming For Perfect Actually Holding You Back?

• Musicality Now - Making Music with Ease, with Gerald Klickstein

• Gerald Klickstein - "The Musician's Way"

• Cheat Sheet - How To Handle Musical Mistakes With Grace

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188: Awareness, Innovation and Reflection, with Michael Compitello Jun 12, 2019

Show notes

Today on the show we have the pleasure of talking with Michael Compitello, a celebrated percussionist, composer and educator. It was Michael's innovative projects "New Morse Code" and "Unsnared Drum" which first caught our attention - but as we learned more about him we realised the biggest opportunity to help you guys with this conversation was actually to pick his brains on music learning and practicing music.

This episode is packed with ideas. Some you may have come across before, including in past episodes of this show. But I suspect some will be new to you and you're going to love how Michael brings it all together into a really coherent picture of what these various tools and mindset shifts can do for your music learning.

For example, we talk about:

• The value of taking a "growth mindset" to music learning

• Tools that can help you handle negative self-talk when it arises

• How a habit of reflection can help you past sticking points, improve your practice efficiency and accelerate your progress

That's just a taste - we also discuss learning online and being your own teacher, mindfulness and bringing awareness to your practice, setting and reaching goals, and we ask Michael about the concepts behind the percussion-cello duo "New Morse Code" and the ground-breaking solo snare drum project "Unsnared Drum".

As always, please listen with the question of "How could this apply in my own musical life?" - and we guarantee you're going to find some really high-impact ideas in here.

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 188

Links and Resources

• Michael Compitello's Website

• "Unsnared Drum"

• "New Morse Code"

• Matt Sharrock - Marimbist/Percussionist

• Carol S. Dweck - "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success"

• Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool - "Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise"

• Todd Meehan - Liquidrum

• Musicality Now - Music Learning at Warp Speed, with Jason Haaheim

• Musicality Now - The Truth About Talent, with Professor Anders Ericsson

• Musicality Now - Letting the Music Play You, with Paul Wertico

• Musicality Now - About Deliberate Practice in Music

• Musicality Now - About Mindfulness for Musicians

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